Monday, March 1, 2021

Case of the Week 628

 This week's case is from Idzi Potters and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. It looks somewhat similar to last week's case, but it is very different! 

The following objects were seen in a stool specimen from a middle-aged male with recent travel to Senegal.

Thoughts?




8 comments:

Sam said...

Looks like ova of Necator americanus or Ancylostoma duodenale. They look quite elongated though. Is this what ova look like when the rhabditiform larvae are due to hatch?? Or maybe my answer is completely wrong 😅

Old One said...

The eggs are reminiscent of Trichostrongyle eggs. These are some of the most important pathogens found in ruminants, also occurring in birds, primates and many other hosts. Such eggs are quite common in agrarian settings There are so many species they are impossible to identify by egg morphology.. Their large size separates them from hookworm eggs other than that the eggs are similar to a huge number of trichostrongle and strongyle eggs.

My thought is that they are a trichostongyle eggs. The first egg is morulate and is how it would appear in fresh feces. The second egg contains an early stage larvae which would have only developed outside the host. Leading me to think these eggs were accidentally ingested and not infective to the patient. I am thinking it is a trichostrongyle, because I believe them to be more common.

Anonymous said...

They could be the eggs of Trichostrongylus, as mentioned before, although they also resemble free-living nematodes eggs, like as Heterodera spp.

Luis H.

Anonymous said...

These ovas appear to be non human pathogen Strongyles. Such findings in the laboratory are purely incidental.
The Blog really takes us to every corner of the world and each case reenforces the notion that we never know it all.
Florida Fan

Bernardino Rocha said...

Given the size and shape i think this eggs belongs to a plant nematode (spurious passage). I'm inclined to Heterodera spp. or Meloidogyne spp.

Old One said...

While researching Senegals livestock production, I was delighted to see that the tse yes fly has recently been eradicated there. Bye bye Nagana and sleeping sickness. Hello modern cattle husbandry.

Idzi P. said...

Hi Old One!
Tse tse fly gone? Good riddance indeed!

Old One said...

; )