My son just returned from a weekend trip to Shell Lake. On the portage from Pauness to Shell his crew waded across the beaver dam pond. After getting to there campsite he noticed a leech on his ankle and removed it, done deal - he thought!! Had a great weekend until on the drive home. Ankle started to swell and ache. Ended up getting 3 types of antibiotics from the doc on Monday. The question: has anyone else experienced this type of reaction to a leach bite/attachment. He is also a seasoned tripper and has not had this happen before.

I used to trap leeches for a living.
There are many types, the only ones that gave me any issues were the Diamond Backs.
Sorry I have no pictures and the name may be a local White Earth Reservation name.
They were short, flat and wide. Brown with ridges on the sides if my memory serves me correct.
They would only need to be stuck on me a short time, they were hard to remove and woukd start hurting almost immediately.

This might be semantics, but I suspect that the infection isn't "from" the leech attachment in the sense that someone might react to an insect bite, but rather he had a small open wound where the leech was attached, which then became infected with something else (possibly from the beaver pond).

quote Porkeater: "This might be semantics, but I suspect that the infection isn't "from" the leech attachment in the sense that someone might react to an insect bite, but rather he had a small open wound where the leech was attached, which then became infected with something else (possibly from the beaver pond)."

I agree. More than likely it is from dirty water not from the leech itself. It doesn't take much to get a severe infection like that.

https://ruralmomof3.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/blood-suckers-and-leeches/

I have had this happen twice now. Once on an ankle, which I never had treated (I was in my poor college student years), and it itched and swelled for months. That leech bite actually occurred in a very clear trout stream in western WI. The second time was about five years ago after pushing a canoe through mud in low water either on Jack or Kelly. It was on the bottom of my foot, and within a day was an ugly weeping mess. That one wasn't treated either (unless swabbing with Scotch from the flask counts) but it subsided within a week or two. The first I attributed to the type of leech, the second I assumed was from slogging my leech bitten foot through beaver muck while pushing the canoe. I'm glad your son got in and got on some antibiotics promptly, because I recall this being a real pain in the...foot!

I had the same issue about ten years ago after a canoe trip down the Cloquet River. My ankle swelled up to the point I couldn't fit a shoe on that foot for a few days, but antibiotics made short work of it. And yes, chances are the bacterial infection was due to something in the water as opposed to the leeches themselves.

quote OldFingers57: "

quote Porkeater: "This might be semantics, but I suspect that the infection isn't "from" the leech attachment in the sense that someone might react to an insect bite, but rather he had a small open wound where the leech was attached, which then became infected with something else (possibly from the beaver pond)."

I agree. More than likely it is from dirty water not from the leech itself. It doesn't take much to get a severe infection like that. "

That was my thoughts also. Thank goodness he's on antibiotics, looks bad!

I've had it happen twice. Both times swollen foot, itching, redness. Never went to a doc. They cleared up by themselves. I guess it's a reaction to the anti coagulant. But that's just a guess.

Had a red leech attach itself right under the Strap on my Sandle. Pulled it off and it just kept bleeding.would not stop.
It was my understanding the the leech injects some sort of anti coagulant... when I get home I'll try dig up a picture. Never did get infected.
Just kept bleeding