Case of the Week 774

This week's case features another great video from Dr. Rasool Jafari - an object identified from skin scrapings. What is this little arthropod?

Answer to Case 774

Answer to the Parasite Case of the Week 774: Demodex! The legs and gnathosoma (with mouthparts) are nicely demonstrated:

I can't quite tell if this is D. brevis, or Demodex folliculorum with a scrunched-up tail. 

We've had some great cases of Demodex on the blog over the years. Here is the list in no particular order:

Case of the Week 535 (with a poem from Blaine Mathison 😁), donated by Dr. Kabeer Shah.

Case 581 - showing an adult D. folliculorum and a video of 2 mites within a hair follicle. Also with a poem by Old One. This case was donated by Theodore Trejo and shows beautiful detail of the adult mite.

Case 702 - from the Mayo Clinic Mycology lab showing D. brevis on calcofluor white fluorescent stain.

Cases 278 - showing a pair of mites on calcofluor white fluorescent staining - with another poem from Blaine! I hadn't realized how many poems we have collected. This case was donated by Florida Fan.

Case 606 - donated by Dr. Sandeep T and showing a lovely long D. folliculorum.

Case 772 - This is the tricky case from last month with the twisted tail. Donated by Dr. Evis Nushi.

Case 503 - from Florida Fan with a really nice side-by-side view on light and fluorescence microscopy.

Case 334 - showing several D. folliculorum mites from eyelash scrapings. Donated by Dr. Robin Chamberland - with yet another poem by Blaine. All of the poems are different from one another, and very fun to read. 

Case 58 - the very first Demodex that I ever posted - 16 years ago!

Case 190 - a beautiful example of D. folliculorum in a hair follicle in an H&E-stained histopathology preparation. It was donated by Dr. Holkmann Olsen and is the best example I've ever seen of the mouthparts and legs in a histopathological section. 

Case 308 - and finally, an amazing case by Florida Fan that shows Sarcoptes scabei and Demodex folliculorum mites in the same image. 

I've been blessed to have so many fabulous case donations over the years. Many thanks to Dr. Rasool Jafari for donating this fascinating case.

Case of the Week 773

This week's case is generously donated by Dr. Rasool Jafari from the Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran. These objects were isolated from a patient and cultured in Modified TYI-S-33 medium. What parasite is this, and what are we seeing here?

Answer to Case 773

Answer to the Parasite Case of the Week 773: Giardia duodenalis trophozoites with 'falling leaf' motility. As nicely described by Idzi,this is a "Beautiful video material of Giardia trophozoites! Note that it’s official name now is “Giardia duodenalis”. We used to cultivate these critters on Keisters medium for educational purposes. Not easy though, so the more impressing this video by Dr. Rasool Jafari is! Kudos!"

Indeed, you can make out multiple characteristic features of Giardia trophozoites, including the 'tear drop' shape with 2 nuclei and a central axoneme when viewed anteriorly, a concave spoon-shaped appearance when viewed from laterally, anterior sucking disk, and even some trophozoites dividing by binary fission. I believe I've captured one here but defer to Dr. Jafari for confirmation. Many thanks again to Dr. Jafari for sharing this interesting case with us.