Case of the Week 56
The following was ‘passed’ in the stool of an otherwise asymptomatic 50 year old woman. (images courtesy of Dr. Washington Winn, Fletcher Allen Health Care, VT) Identification?
The following was ‘passed’ in the stool of an otherwise asymptomatic 50 year old woman. (images courtesy of Dr. Washington Winn, Fletcher Allen Health Care, VT) Identification?
Answer: Rhinosporidiosis (infection with Rhinosporidium seeberi) Congratulations to Anonymous (x 3!), Kenneth, Chris, Victor, and Santoshpath who all got this correct! The keys to the diagnosis is the clinical history (location in nasal mucosa), exposure history (India), and histopathologic features of a polypoid mass containing mature sporangia (large, thick-walled spherical structures) and smaller internal sporangiospores [...]
Here’s a challenge for all of you: Nasal polyp removed from a 50 year old Indian man with complaints of chronic nasal obstruction. Histologic exam reveals the following:
Answer: Trypomastigotes and intermediate trypomastigote/amastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. Thanks to everyone who wrote in for this case! This was, admittedly, a tricky case, since it is uncommon to see amastigote-type forms in peripheral blood. The reason these atypical forms were present is because this specimen was grown in culture and then innoculated in peripheral [...]
The following were seen on a Giemsa-stained thick blood film made from EDTA whole blood. Identification?
Answer: You should advise him that this is not an Ixodes scapularis tick, which is the agent of Lyme disease, as well as babesiosis and anaplasmosis. Instead, it is a Dermacentor tick, which can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Unlike I. scapularis, Dermacentor spp. ticks have a “chalise-shaped” anal groove and festoons (not well visible [...]
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