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
