Monday, December 31, 2007

Parasite Case of the Week 2

Happy New Year!
I figured I would start off 2008 with a fun arthropod case. Also, to reward your patience, here are the answers to the last case:
http://parasitewonders.blogspot.com/2007/12/answer-to-case-1.html
Each week, I will post the answers below the corresponding case.

Case #2




Click on image to enlarge.

Questions:
Identification (genus and species)?
What disease does this arthropod cause?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm going to say Xenopsylla cheopis, vector for agents of murine typhus and plague.

Chris Hands said...

Is it Tunga penetrans causing myasis of (usually) the foot?

Happy New Year!!

Unknown said...

My gut reaction was that it was the plague flea, too. I don't suppose there's anyway that you could give us a little .wav file with the pronunciation of some of these genus/species bugs? Perhaps you have a husband who is good with computer/audio stuff? My immediate question is whether the p in Xenopsylla is silent or not. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I like Tunga penetrans. I believe the disease it causes is the Heebie-Jeebies.

ParasiteGal said...

Good thoughts everyone. For Tom, Xenopsylla cheopsis is pronounced zee-nop-se-la chee-op-sis. However, this is not the correct answer. I'll explain further next week.

Blue Boi said...

Tunga penetrans. Happy New year!!

Anonymous said...

Tunga penetrans. Tungiasis.