Identification?
Monday, June 27, 2016
Case of the Week 402
This week's case was generously donated by Dr. Rocco LaSala. The specimen was retrieved from the stool of a 70 year-old-woman with approximately 12 months of diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and unintended weight loss (> 40 lbs). The structures are thin, brown, and 'thread-like', measuring approximately 0.7 mm in width.
Specimens were also submitted for histology, which showed the following on H&E staining:
I think this is classic presentation of “rope” human intestinal parasite.
ReplyDeleteNot a human parasite.
ReplyDeleteStrongyloides Stercoralis?
ReplyDeleteThe pictures did not show any internal organization typical of real parasites, therefore I would vote for a pseudo parasite.
ReplyDeleteFlorida Fan
Hello
DeleteNot a human parasite. Maybe the cause for the symptoms is not this structure.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like bacon to me...
-HLCM fan
Looks like Bacon!!!!
ReplyDeleteTungiasis
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteOr Fly, Flea, or louse morphology.
Not a parasite. It almost looks like a bone.
ReplyDeleteBW in VT
Just had a lab lecture from Dr. LaSala in a Global Health course. at WVU... strong work!
ReplyDeleteplease, but so many??
ReplyDeletehttp://cdn.mdjunction.com/components/com_joomlaboard/uploaded/images/Unknown2.jpg
http://ropeworms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/What-is-it-2.jpg
And they all have the same appearance.. ?
Yes, this is completely typical for food material. Not only does it microscopically look like partially digested food, but microscopically, there are plant structures and nothing to indicate that this is a microorganism. Think of what happens when you eat something like corn. You would see a lot of it in stool potentially. It's actually quite common to see partially digested food in stool. Therefore, the amount and appearance is perfectly consistent with this.
DeleteFound the same thing in my stool... I'm 100% positive that is Borrelia Burgdorferi (Lyme disease).
ReplyDeleteBorrelia burgdorferi is a microscopic bacterium, so it would not be visible by the naked eye. This was seen macroscopically, and therefore is definitely not a bacterium. Also, the histologic sections show that this is vegetable material. Therefore, this is food material found in stool. From my experience, it closely resembles banana seeds, but it could possibly be some other food material. Think of all the things that we eat as humans. Much of it is undigested and comes out in stool.
DeleteI am searching for some answers, I too have this in my stool but only discovered after administering a coffee enema. I am certain that it's not partially digested bananas. This is the only thing that comes out usually 30 minutes after I have completed the enema, showered and dressed! Looks like a cotton ball with reddish brown stands embedded in one side. Once out of the water, it resembles a stone or cysts of stone sort and does not break apart like an undigested banana would. I have photos!
Deletemy son 2 month save this type in stool
DeleteIt's not particularly digested food I have the same problem.It definitely looks like some kind of worm pod. I'm thinking it may be from eating genetically modified foof,some something man made.
ReplyDeletesame problm my son..he is only 2 month...
ReplyDelete