Medicinal Leech Therapy in Acute Herpes Zoster Condition- A Case Report
Itankar PB, Sawarkar GR, Chakole DA (2025) · Journal of Pharmacy & Bioallied Sciences · n=1
Perfil del estudio
- Diseño
- single-patient Ayurveda case report of medicinal leech therapy combined with internal Ayurvedic formulation for acute herpes zoster (Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research, Wardha, Maharashtra, India)
- Tamaño de la muestra (n)
- 1
- Intervención
- Prompt leech therapy performed as emergency intervention plus internal Ayurvedic medication for 10 days in a 26-year-old male with acute herpes zoster (reddish rashes and small vesicular eruption over left lateral chest aspect with burning sensation and pain)
- Comparador
- Not applicable - single-patient case report; pre/post within-subject timeline
- Punto final primario
- Resolution of acute herpes zoster rash, vesicular eruption, burning sensation, and pain following combined leech therapy and Ayurvedic internal medicine
- Resultado primario
- Combined leech therapy and Ayurvedic internal medication regimen produced effective resolution of acute herpes zoster symptoms over 10 days; case concludes that leech therapy and Ayurvedic internal medicine constitute an effective management approach for acute herpes zoster
- Duración del seguimiento
- 10 days of combined treatment
- PMID
- 41846760
Hallazgos clave
- Documents combined leech therapy and Ayurvedic internal medicine for acute herpes zoster in an Indian academic Ayurveda center
- Adds acute herpes zoster to the broader catalog of off-label leech-therapy indications in Ayurvedic practice
- Reports clinical resolution of vesicular eruption, burning sensation, and pain over a 10-day combined regimen
- Complements the existing Mueller 2012 postherpetic-neuralgia German leech RCT with an Indian acute-phase case report
- Provides preliminary signal for future investigation of leech-derived antiviral or analgesic adjunctive approaches in herpes zoster
Limitaciones
- Single case (n=1) - cannot establish efficacy or generalizability
- Combined intervention (leech therapy plus internal Ayurvedic medicine) precludes attribution to leech therapy alone
- No long-term follow-up to assess postherpetic neuralgia prevention
- Patient demographics limited to a single 26-year-old male - other populations untested
- Selection bias - successful case reports tend to be over-represented in case literature
Implicaciones clínicas
Itankar 2025 is a single Ayurveda case report documenting that medicinal leech therapy combined with internal Ayurvedic medication may be useful in acute herpes zoster management. For ASH editorial purposes, the trial extends the herpes zoster leech-therapy evidence base from the German RCT focus on postherpetic neuralgia (Mueller 2012) to acute-phase Ayurvedic practice. For US clinicians, the case does not change practice — leech therapy is not first-line or evidence-supported for acute herpes zoster — but does illustrate the breadth of off-label CAM applications. The case is included in the registry to document the cross-cultural utilization landscape of leech therapy, with appropriate caveats about the case-report evidence level.