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Case of the Week 19

The following thin Giemsa-stained blood smear is from a missionary who just returned from Tanzania.

Identification? What are the identifying features of this case?

Round to oval ring shaped structures with several dots within RBCs. The ring shaped structures’ diameter is about 1/3 to 1/4 of that of the RBCs.

It looks like malaria, not babesia. And the ring shaped thingy might be trophozoite. A round to oval ring shaped trophozoite with relatively small diameter and a few dots around it…

I think it’s plasmodium falciparum.

itz malaria. P. falciparum

P.falciparum