For this post, I wanted to highlight one of the fabulous cases from Tulane University, the former lab of the Parasite guru, Thomas Orihel. I had the pleasure of putting on a Parasitology workshop last week at the ASTMH annual meeting along with Christina Coyle, Michael Libman, and Susan McLellan; Susan is an infectious disease physician at Tulane and was our host for the workshop.
The following is one of the coolest displays I've ever seen - back from the 1950s when tapeworms were submitted following treatment (often with quinacrine) to ensure that the head was expelled. On an interesting historical note, quinacrine is not thought to have vermicidal activity, but causes the head to detach so that the worm can be expelled. Its use has now been replaced by praziquantel and other more effective medications for treatment of cestode infection.
Identification?
12 comments:
T. saginata?
If the white areas represent uterine branches, I see more than 13. T. saginata.
-BHS
It looks like Taenia saginata segments.
CS
Definitely a T. saginata, the worm that I had personal encountered as a little boy. At first I found a few of what resembled flat rice noodles pieces on my thigh. When I showed them to my mom, she was horrified. She woke me up at three in the morning to give me that drug that intoxicated the worm and thus it would release the hooklets, then half an hour later a healthy dose of magnesium sulfate to flush it out. She cautioned me to alert the maid to make a warm water bowl where I would defecate and they would try to find the scolex as an assurance the tape worm had been expelled.
The purge came so suddenly, I could barely run to the bathroom and out came the bundle. The horror was that it hung half in half out and the terrified boy had no other way except to grab it with a piece of tissue and yank the darn thing off.
Thanks to heaven, no more piece of rice noodle came out afterwards.
Very truly,
Florida Fan
Taenia saginata.
Agree with everybody. As BHS said earlier, if the white areas represent uterine branches, I see more than 13 branches.
Wan Hafiz
proglotides of Taenia saginata after treatment, usually Niclosamide
@Florida Fan
A true bundle of joy !!!
(for parasitologists that is :D )
Hi Dr. Pritt,
Where is this big worm at Tulane? I am a Masters student in Microbiology and I would love to check it out.
Thanks! I love your blog.
Best,
-Jasmine Fournier
It's really an amazing display, isn't it? I would recommend asking Dr. Susan McLellen since she was the one that set up the lab for us,
Thanks for getting back to me! I will ask her.
Also, here is a limerick about toxoplasmosis that I wrote.
Toxoplasmosis is a protozoan,
Which causes a rat's behavior to be Trojan.
The protozoan makes him think that
His friend is the neighborhood cat
But it's really the cat that the toxo has chosen.
Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks again!
That's great! I will use it for my next Toxo case. Thanks Jasmine.
That is very exciting. I have a few others on my blog: http://www.thebigdiseasie.com/ where I infrequently blog about diseasies.
If your resident poet is ever unavailable, feel free to get in touch and I will be more than happy to write another one about a case.
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