Case of the Week 556

By Bobbi Pritt, M.D. • August 14, 2019

Share this:

This week's case was donated by Dr. Neil Harris and Dr. Stacy Beal. The patient is an infant with a history of tracheobronchomalacia and "eosinophilia" on prior bronchoscopy. A routine complete blood count was negative without evidence of peripheral eosinophilia. The following structures were seen on a Giemsa-stained bronchoalveolar lavage specimen using the 100x objective. They have a diameter of 1-3 micrometers. What's the identification?

Read Dr. Pritt's blog, Parasite Wonders, and submit your answers, comments, and questions. Also, visit her website ParasiteWonders.com, which hosts an archive of classic images from cases Dr. Pritt has posted going back to 2007 (in an easy-to-search "A through Z" format) and also offers a flashcard feature.

Answer to Case 556:

Curschmann spirals

Bobbi Pritt, M.D.

Bobbi Pritt, MD, MSc, is a Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and the Director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She is also the Chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology. Her research interests are in clinical parasitology, vector-borne diseases and the pathology of infectious diseases.