Saturday, March 25, 2017

Celebrating 10 years of Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites

Thank you for joining me today to celebrate 10 years of blogging with Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites! I can't believe that my very first entry on this blog was posted on March 25, 2007.

For my celebration, I invited all readers to submit their artistic parasite creations, and was amazed by all of the outstanding entries I received. They are all below for your viewing pleasure. I entered the name of each person who submitted something into a hat and then randomly selected 5 names.
And the winners are:
  • Rachael Liesman
  • Sidnei Silva
  • Prakhar Vijay
  • Melanie Bois
  • Kevin Barker
I will contact each winner separately about your prize (choice of a parasite calendar, phone case, or mug).

Fabulous parasite creative works (by category):

DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS

Giardia and Leishmania, adorned in traditional Brazilian costumes. 
Illustrated by Sidnei da Silva

Trypanosoma brucei
Charcoal sketch by Emily Evans

Schistosoma couple
Painted on canvas by Prakhar Vijayvargiya

Tsetse fly and Reduviid bug
Illustrated by Amy Gallimore


PHOTOGRAPHY
Plasmodium berghei with a "Friday feeling Smile" by Kevin Barker

Looking for anisakids - a fish dissecting party with Rachel Vaubel, Melissa Blessing, Xuemei Wu, Emily Patterson, Melanie Bois and Heidi Lehrke

Cerebral toxoplasmosis by Melissa Blessing

MIXED MEDIA

Dipylidium caninum scarf by Heidi Lehrke

Giardia kiteii by Florida Fan

Leishmania cross-stitch by Tiffany Borbon

EDIBLE PARASITE GOODIES
Dracunculus medinensis and myiasis cupcakes by Rachael Liesman

Plasmodium falciparum cookies by Emily Fernholz

 PARASITE COSTUMES
Dermatobia hominis baby by Reeti Khare

Dipylidium caninum by Heather Rose

"Tubes of blood" for FIL (filariasis) and MAL (malaria) testing by Felicity Norris, Aimee Boeger and Brenda Nelson (note that Aimee is a green top tub (heparin) which we don't accept in my lab, so she has been 'cancelled'

Taenia solium with detachable 'proglottids' by Jadee Neff and family

Taenia solium and eosinophils with Rose Sandell and Melanie Bois

"Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar/E. moshkovskii/E. bangladeshi and E. hartmanni - who can tell them apart?" with Patty Wright, Corrisa Miliander, Heather Rose, Emily Fernholz and Kelli Black

An engorged and gravid tick by Elli Theel

Giemsa by Jane Hata

A fish with a tapeworm by Rachael Liesman

POETRY
by Blaine Mathison
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
the fleas were all nestled in the fur of the mouse.
They paired with their loved ones under a sprig of mistletoe,
A gift from Cousin Chigoe, from down south in the toe.

The larvae were pupating in the bed of the host,
carrying Dipylidium cysticercoids, an infectious dose!
The Yersinia pestis churned in the foregut
until such time when the proventriculus would erupt!

All of a sudden there appeared such a clatter!
The fleas sprang from the fur to see what was the matter.
Crawling up the leg of the host, with such stealth and so quick,
was the holiday icon known as St. Tick.

“Now Ixodes, now Dermacentor, and Amblyomma!
On RhipicephalusOrnithodoros, don’t forget Hyalomma.”
He got right to work and delivered the fleas' presents
full of pathogens to spread to medieval peasants,

Then he sprang to his sleigh and let out a whistle,
Then they took off into the night like a guided missile.
But I heard him exclaim as flew out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good bite!

2 comments:

Kathy Murray Leisure, MD said...

Excellent. Such creativity. The poem on fleas, chiggers, and ticks is superb. Congratulations to all participants.

Sugar Magnolia said...

I cannot believe the creativity! Actually, I can, because WE'RE LAB RATS and proud of it! Is there anything else in the world we would rather be? And this is just one thing that makes me say to everyone, "I don't have to go to work, I GET to work! I GET to see the most amazing things and hear the most incredible stories! And there is something new every day that never ceases to astound me!" So, excellent job, all, and let your (Giardia) kite fly free!