Monday, October 5, 2020

Case of the Week 609

 This week's case features our monthly case from Idzi Potters and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. The following structure was seen in a urine sediment. No further history is available. Identification?


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Schistosoma hematobium with terminal spine

Sheldon Campbell said...

I'd be reluctant to call from just this image. It's reminiscent of an S. hematobium ovum, but with no protomiracidium (or whatever the hell you call it) inside. The thickening opposite the putative spine looks a lot like whatever we're calling the fish tapeworm this week; but the size and location are wrong, so that's just a random thought. I've never seen a post-hatching Schistosoma hematobium ovum, so I expect that's what this is, but I'd try to look for more.

Marc Couturier said...

This is definitely NOT Schistosoma haematobium. It is only measuring ~75um in length vs the expected 110-170um. Also, importantly S. haematobium eggs contain a mature miracidium when shed in urine. This has no internal structuring of the sort.

Nandhu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nandhu said...

I agree with Marc. The size of the egg is definitely not consistent with S. haematobium (which are large, 110-170uM long and 40-70uM wide). Secondly, the structure lacks mature miracidium.

Anonymous said...

This structure is reminiscent of a fungal structure. It reminds me of an ascospore.

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for the guidance. As the weather starts to cool down for the fall, this case is a reminder for us to expect to recognize the incidental findings like this one, otherwise unlikely to encounter during the other seasons of the year. I agree that this object does not measure up to the size of a Schistosoma haematobium, nor does it contain an internal miracidium, as such this identification does not stand.
The other fact is that there is no clinical history. Old One, I agree with you that this is more than likely a mushroom ascospore. I will be reluctant to associate it with morel ascospores as my knowledge is only restricted to Clinical Mycology.
Florida Fan

Sir Galahad said...

Fungal spore.

William Sears said...

not a parasite. no internal structure. Crystal?