Sunday, May 11, 2008

Case of the Week 21

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The following cyst is seen in this iodine stained wet-preparation from stool. It measures 16 microns in diameter.

Diagnosis?
What is the significance of finding this organism in this sample?
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going to say that this is an Entamoeba coli cyst. There are well > 4 nuclei, which means it is not E. hystolytica. Finding this organism means that the person was potentially exposed to less-than-ideal sanitary conditions at some point, and could be at risk for other pathogens passed under said conditions. This E. coli is probably not causing any damage to the host, and hence would not be considered a pathogen.

Unknown said...

OMG! I know this one! I agree with everything Tom said above and I'm thrilled that you gave us an easy one this week.