Sunday, January 25, 2015

Answer to Case 334

Answer:  Demodex sp. mites

As some of the readers pointed out, the mites are a little beat-up looking (possibly damaged during the scraping process used to obtain the specimen) but you can make out the short legs (arrows below) and elongated abdomen with striations.

These are either D. brevis or D. folliculorum found in hair follicles and sebaceous glands.

Here is a poem from Blaine for this week's case - thanks for using my name in it, Blaine, you're a pal... :)

Living at the base of Bobbi’s right eyebrow
Is a follicle mite, but to know for sure, how?
It’s too slender for scabies or an avian mite
So if you’re ID is Demodex your absolutely right!
Which makes you an entomological maestro, so please take a bow

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