Monday, September 26, 2022

Case of the Week 696

 The following objects were seen in a urine specimen from a young man originally from sub-Saharan Africa. What are we seeing here? The beautiful photos are by Felicity Norrie, MLS(ASCP).




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The first image looks like Schistosoma haematobium, but the second image looks different.

Roxana said...

In the first image I see a egg of Schistosoma haematobium and in the second one I see a miracidium of Schistosoma haematobium. Wonderful pictures!

Anonymous said...

From the geographic location, we can narrow our identification down to S. haematobium and S. intercalatum. Morphology wise, the egg is more consistent with S. haematobium, also S. intercalatum eggs are shed in the stool. Nice find, the miracidium clearly shows its cilia. BTW, our shop prepares to be boarded up due to inclement weather.
Florida Fan

ParasiteGal said...

We hope you and your family stay safe, Florida Fan, and make it through the storm OK!

TheOracle said...

A wonderful picture of an egg and a miracidium of Schistosoma haematobium, no doubt!

The hatching suggests a delay between sample collection and microscopic evaluation without preservation or refrigeration.

Luca Fanasca, MD

Idzi P. said...

Nice pictures!
First image shows an egg with morphology compatible with Schistosoma haematobium.
Second image shows a schistosomal miracidium with nicely visible cilia. Wonderful picture! Waaaw!
Hatching of schisto eggs is normally triggered by dilution in water, but as mentioned by Dr. Fanasca, also delayed processing of urine without refrigeration may trigger hatching. I saw free miracidia (actively swimming) a couple of times; beautiful but difficult to follow!

Idzi P. said...

@Florida Fan: I hope you and your family are okay! Stay safe!

Anonymous said...

Dr. Pritt and Idzi,
Thank you for your kind and caring wishes. We dodged Ian unscathed, just some leaves and twigs in the backyard.
Thank you everyone for your thoughtfulness,
Florida Fan