Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites

The following small intestinal biopsy was taken from an elderly woman with cough, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. She reports no travel hist...

Answer: Strongyloides stercoralis larvae. This is a potentially serious infection, and can result in hyperinfection and death in immunocom...

I have a somewhat different case for all of your this week: The following were seen on a Wright-Giemsa stained peripheral blood thin film ...

Answer: Morulae (bacterial clusters) of Anaplasma phagocytophilum within neutrophils. As noted by Anonymous, the morulae of E. ewingii are...

The following was seen on a drop of unstained peripheral blood from a patient who traveled to Cameroon and Spain. Here are some of these obj...

Answer: Loa loa microfilariae The key features used to identify this case were: 1. Presence of a sheath (unstained, see below) 2. Internal ...

The patient is a 40 year old professor who had recently taken a trip to Brazil with 15 of his students. During his trip, he and his student...

Answer: Plasmodium vivax Everyone who wrote in recognized these parasites correctly. As mentioned by Kanoot, there are multiple amoeboid t...

The following objects were identified in a concentrated fecal preparation from a 5 year old Kenyan adoptee. They range in size from 30 to 6...

Answer: Pollen, not a human parasite Thank you to everyone who wrote in with your answer! Most recognized these objects a non-parasitic st...