Monday, July 20, 2009

Case of the Week 78

Examination of an unstained muscle biopsy pressed between 2 glass slides revealed the following: (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE)


Diagnosis?
Bonus: What stage of the organism is shown here?

3 comments:

Salbrent said...

I suspect Trichnella first larvae stage (L1) at first impression and there are several species or strain variations and would be helpful to know the patient's food and travel history.


Was a serology ordered?

Anonymous said...

Trichinella spiralis, the larval form. I did an autopsy of a woman many years ago who was ventilator dependent.....she was thought to have some psychiatric disorder. At autopsy, her diaphragm was atrophied, scarred and riddled with this organism. BW in Vt.

ParasiteGal said...

Wow, what a fascinating case.