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Answer to Case of the Week 36

Congratulations to everyone who recognized the bipolar plugs of the eggs inside this cross section of Trichuris trichiura. This was a tricky case, but the location of the worm helps (colon lumen), and the eggs are diagnostic. Although the eggs are reminiscent of hookworm (as suggested by one viewer), that is largely due to the fact that the cytoplasmic contents of the eggs have retracted from the wall (probably as an artifact of fixation). The thick wall and bipolar plugs are the most useful features.