Sunday, January 30, 2011

Case of the Week 148

The following was found in a stool specimen and submitted to the Clinical Parasitology laboratory for identification. It measures approximately 1.3 cm in length. Identification?

14 comments:

Alasdair Hill said...

The only thing I can think of that is that size and shape is a Fasciolopsis buski (?) adult. Can't really tell.

Difficult one this week!!

Anonymous said...

Pretty big! Artifact, maybe? Grapefruit thingey?

Kathy said...

I agree that it most closely resembles a 'citrus particle'.

FP said...

I'm voting Mung bean sprout.

Neuro_Nurse said...

It looks like there's an air bubble inside - maybe the remnants of a medication capsule.

Anonymous said...

green bean?

Charlie 103 said...


Even for a parasitologist I feel your conclusion is poor there are many biological samples regarding parasitic diseases in paper form with cytoplasmic development that would fall into a similar category I look at your sample from the patient and compare it based upon your pictures on the orange slice I do not believe they look the same sorry I guess it's not much different than some patients finding skipping on their body and the research till they finally find a picture of some bug that looks like and that's how they conclude their findings that's just a reversal of your procedure I would continue to investigate with other bio Testing and not just visual all the visual is very important also

Charlie 103 said...


Even for a parasitologist I feel your conclusion is poor there are many biological samples regarding parasitic diseases in paper form with cytoplasmic development that would fall into a similar category I look at your sample from the patient and compare it based upon your pictures on the orange slice I do not believe they look the same sorry I guess it's not much different than some patients finding skipping on their body and the research till they finally find a picture of some bug that looks like and that's how they conclude their findings that's just a reversal of your procedure I would continue to investigate with other bio Testing and not just visual all the visual is very important also

Charlie 103 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Charlie 103 said...

To summarize my comments I also do not believe that what you are looking at is a final product and you need to keep that in mind this could be a beginning middle or almost ending stage of something organic parasitic etc nematode worms for example na filarial state look very similar to this but that is not my conclusion

Charlie 103 said...

Over the last 2 years I have had to deal with an unusual situation with one of my canine pets she has an ailment that starts underneath the skin Service to the skin layer and then breaks out in a lesion cyst type of form the veterinary for example concluded that it wasn't parasitic because he did not see any legs or a body that looked like a bug to him now for example right there shows you that some doctors feel that it has to be stages of an entomology to say that it is parasitic and that a protozoan type development is not in their theory

Charlie 103 said...

Over the last 2 years I have had to deal with an unusual situation with one of my canine pets she has an ailment that starts underneath the skin Service to the skin layer and then breaks out in a lesion cyst type of form the veterinary for example concluded that it wasn't parasitic because he did not see any legs or a body that looked like a bug to him now for example right there shows you that some doctors feel that it has to be stages of an entomology to say that it is parasitic and that a protozoan type development is not in their theory

ParasiteGal said...

Interesting comments Charlie 103. This specimen was examined using both a dissecting microscope (macroscopic view) and a light microscopic, and both revealed that this is food material (not a parasite or portion of a parasite). It's true that there are many parasites out there and it is therefore important to have a qualified parasitology lab examine your specimens. On the other hand, it is important to note that many different partially-digested food materials are passed in the stool (e.g. onion pieces, bean sprouts, seeds, etc.) and it is just important to be able to identify these and differentiate them from parasites.

drophammer77 said...

I know this is an old thread but as I lose my teeth and my skin deteriorated, Many Doctor's are so biased.. after taking a dose of vermox I picked up from corner store while visiting the In'laws in Mexico I've had hundreds upon hundreds, this same and round ones from bowl movement and I havn't had any citrus fruit in 3weeks. I Greatly appreciate it when people say names of certian cytoplasmic, parasitic or infections which helps others as myself find answers.