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A parasitologist's view of the world
Welcome to Parasite Case of the Week
Every week I will post a new Case, along with the answer to the previous case. Please feel free to write in with your answers, comments, and questions. Also check out my image archive website at http://parasitewonders.com. Enjoy!
The Fine Print:
Please note that all opinions expressed here are mine and not my employer. Information provided is for educational purposes only. It is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice. I do not accept medical consults from patients.
The Fine Print:
Please note that all opinions expressed here are mine and not my employer. Information provided is for educational purposes only. It is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice. I do not accept medical consults from patients.
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11 comments:
Looks like Giardia to me.
Looks like Giardia “looking back at” me
:-)
Giardia...
Happy giardia
Magnificient shots of trichrome-stained Giardia intestinals trophozoites.
In days gone past, when it took our state health department a month to diagnose Giardia infections, our lab was using a ZnSO4 centrifugal flotations. This is a rapid and effective method for diagnosing Giardia cysts (except in avian giardiasis cases). This saved a few of our students a months worth of suffering while waiting for results so that they could be treated.
This flotation method is very successful at levitating Giardia cysts in fresh feces but rarely levitates trophs , however once feces are fixed with formalin the trophs will levitate nicely.
With time, things change. My first Parasitology Lab session, we made direct smears in Saline and Iodine from raw stool samples. We examined these Giardia lamblia cysts and trophozoites with monocular microscopes (mind you the brass one of Dr. Alexander Yersin was still in perfectly functioning condition when I looked through it in 1973 at the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang, Vietnam).
Then we did the formalin ether concentration with centrifugation on Formalin specimens and a Mercury PVA trichrome smear (these are still the best and most long lasting). Now we only use mercury free and formalin free fixatives, the Trichrome smears are good, but the wet mounts do alter the morphology quite a lot. The Giardia Direct Fluorescence does give us a beautiful green fluorescence. Yet the most sensitive has to be the Giardia antigen EIA. The draw back: yes the antigen is there, but are the organisms alive?
Even now, when the cysts stand up like eggs in a carton, it still throw us into a loop. Another scenario is when the trophozoites stand up on their tails, they only look like a half moon with two eyes or the mischievious kid next door sticking only his forehead and eyes over the privacy fence.
Very nicely captured photographs.
Florida Fan
Yes, but... unfortunately, Gardia's name appears as soon as we display the snapshots in the browser so that this weekly challenge is not at all one. Dear Bobbi, May I suggest an anonymization of the clichés posted in the future
Giardia duodenalis ( = intestinalis) trophozoites
Carlo Alberto Varlani
Giardia lamblia trophozoites. Trichrome stain.
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