Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Case of the Week 233


A 67 year old contact lens wearer with eye pain was found to have a corneal ulcer. Corneal scrapings (unstained wet prep) revealed the following (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE).  The rounded structures measure approximately 15 micrometers in diameter.



Identification?
This case was generously donated by Dr. Julie Ribes.
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 1:12 PM

    Acanthamoeba spp. cysts

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  2. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 1:21 PM

    I concur Ananthamoeba...Lee

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  3. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 1:22 PM

    Looks like Acanthamoeba cysts based on the wavy outer wall (ectocyst).

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  4. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 2:14 PM

    Busted!!! Acanthameoba cyst...common among eye contact lens users.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 20, 2012 at 8:26 PM

    Very nice case of Acanthamoeba sp. Just wonder what kind of prep the photograph is from? The microscopic morphology is very typical.

    Florida fan

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  6. ParasiteGalNovember 20, 2012 at 8:33 PM

    Dear Florida Fan,
    It's just a wet prep of the corneal scrapings, which had been collected into a small amount of sterile saline. In addition to a microscopic examination, we also try to culture the specimen on tapwater agar overlain with E. coli.

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  7. AnonymousNovember 21, 2012 at 7:04 PM

    Acanthameoba cysts- right size range, can see exocyst and endocyst walls.

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  8. Charo SabariegosNovember 23, 2012 at 2:43 AM

    Aló parasitologist,
    In the images kindly you give us we can see cysts of Acanthamoeba spp "with a wrinkled or stellate outer cyst wall and smooth to slightly irregular inner cyst wall".
    The cysts of Acanthamoeba spp. are typically 10-25 µm in diameter.

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  9. AnonymousNovember 23, 2012 at 6:40 PM

    Acanthamoeba spp. Improper hygiene often leads to growth of this environmental organism.

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