Answer to Case 644

 Answer to the Parasite Case of the Week 644: Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts on trichrome stain. Additional confirmatory testing (e.g., modified acid fast, UV autofluorescence) is recommended for confirmation. As I mentioned previously, the image from this case was the display screen from the Techcyte AI analysis of a digitally-scanned trichrome-stained slide. You can see that the digital algorithm did an excellent job identifying objects of interest and displaying them to the technologist for review. Use of AI platforms is the future of clinical parasitology, as it drastically reduces the time that technologists have to spend screening negative slides and increases sensitivity for detecting positive cases. Most parasitology labs have an extremely low positive rate for O&P testing - often 95% or more are negative. So a technology that allows our highly trained microscopists to quickly rule out negatives and focus on the positives allows for much better use of their skills, and generally increases job satisfaction! Thanks again to Blaine and Marc for donating this case.