Halloween Case #1

Happy Halloween Week everyone! As you all know, parasites can be creepy dreadful, but also fascinating, and sometimes even helpful. As a special Halloween treat, I'll be highlighting 5 different parasites on the Mayo Clinic News Network HERE - 1 each day.

I unfortunately will not be having a Halloween party this year since I am at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans. Therefore I won't have any costume photos from my party, but I promise to post photos later if I see any particularly parasite-like costumes on Bourbon street!

Halloween Parasite #3

Happy Halloween Week everyone! As you all know, parasites can be creepy dreadful, but also fascinating, and sometimes even helpful. As a special Halloween treat, I'll be highlighting 5 different parasites on the Mayo Clinic News Network - 1 each day. HERE is parasite #3 - . These are written as educational pieces for the general public. Feel free to use the text and images for your own educational purposes.

Halloween Parasite #5

HERE is Halloween Parasite #5, the last in my series of creepy dreadful wonderful parasites for the Halloween season. These pieces are written for the general public, including children, and aim to interest more people in the fascinating world of parasitology.

Halloween Parasite #4

Happy Halloween Week everyone! As you all know, parasites can be creepy dreadful, but also fascinating, and sometimes even helpful. As a special Halloween treat, I'll be highlighting 5 different parasites on the Mayo Clinic News Network - 1 each day. HERE is parasite #4 - "worms in love" These are written as educational pieces for the general public. Feel free to use the text and images for your own educational purposes.

Halloween Case #2

Happy Halloween Week everyone! As you all know, parasites can be creepy dreadful, but also fascinating, and sometimes even helpful. As a special Halloween treat, I'll be highlighting 5 different parasites on the Mayo Clinic News Network - 1 each day. HERE is parasite #2 - scalp explorers. These are written as educational pieces for the general public. Feel free to use the text and images for your own educational purposes.

Case of the Week 466

Happy Halloween to all of my readers! This week's 'case' features costumes from my annual Halloween party. Can you guess what they all are?

Blaine Mathison:

One of our Clinical Microbiology fellows, Dr. Alexandra Bryson:

Patty and Sue:

The amazing Heather Rose and family:

Jeff and Diana:

And I came as "Parasite Gal"

Last but not least - cupcakes anyone?

Case of the Week 323

Happy Halloween to all my readers!  This week's case will be a be a bit unusual.  I had my annual Halloween party last night and had a great turn out from my lab and our pathology and microbiology trainees.  Here are some of the top parasitology costumes.  Can you guess their identity?

Below is a different take on the same costume as above.  Any thoughts on what the fellows are? 

I also made some special 'myiasis' cupcakes for the party.  Here is the assembly process and the final product:

Rolled fondant with red sugar sprinkles

Fondant 'maggots'

 Assembled cupcakes containing a 'maggot' in a custard 'pus' center.  The fondant is held onto the cupcake by a layer of buttercream frosting:

Removing the maggot reveals almost too realistic custard 'pus'

The cupcake idea was not my own, alas.  I got the idea from this web site.

Case of the Week 370

Happy Halloween dear readers!

Like last year, this week's case highlights some of the costumes and goodies from my annual Halloween Party. 

First - the costumes! Here are the amebae ladies. Can you guess which is which? I'll give you a hint in that they are all morphologically identical, but one is slightly smaller than the others.

Here are 2 of our Clinical Microbiology Fellows - the "FakeArray" and the baker (scroll down further to see photos of her goodies) 

Close up of the "FakeArray" Sugar Overload Panel, which detects 24 sweet targets. (The actual FilmArray(R) detects multiple enteric pathogens, including 4 parasites)

And here is the party's hostess, parasite gal in a Peromyscus leucopus costume. Note my Ixodes scapularis accessories.

And last, but not least, the gory baker's cupcakes. Can you tell which parasite is shown on the cupcake with the pretzel stick?

Case of the Week 566

Happy Halloween everyone! In honor of this week, I have photos from my annual Halloween party, and a special 'unknown' from Old One. Feel free to guess what my guests' costumes were:

Me and Felicity with (unplanned) matching costumes. Any ideas what we were?

Me and Old One (so great to meet him in person!)

Heather and her 'life cycle' family

Natalia, Zerelda and Pooja representing the exposure and treatment course for this common parasite:

Another take on this fun parasite by Emily and Nick:

Rebecca, Aimee and Emily demonstrating the woes of being a Clinical Microbiology fellow:

Casey and his wife as another classic parasite:

Kyle and his tapeworm family:

There were many more wonderful costumes that I didn't get pictures of (and many that weren't parasite-related that I will post separately on Facebook). 

And last but not least, HERE is Old One's contribution of a hand-drawn case, animated by his son.

Case of the Week 420

Happy Halloween! Here are some photos from my annual Halloween party - this year hosted with Dr. Audrey Schuetz and her husband Michael.

Our Clinical Microbiology fellow, Dr. Rachael Liesman. Can you guess which parasite she has?

Here are some yummy cupcakes that Rachael made:

Then there is our scary pizza delivery person, Heather:

And for extra bonus points, can you tell what parasite I am transmitting to this cat in my trail of slime? Hint: it's a cause of meningitis.