Case of the Week 579

By Bobbi Pritt, M.D. • February 5, 2020

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Here is our monthly case from Idzi Potters and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. The following were seen in a direct wet preparation of an unfixed stool specimen from a patient with bloody diarrhea and recent travel to sub-Saharan Africa. The objects in question measure approximately 20 micrometers long. See a video of this parasite here. 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 posted going back to 2007 (in an easy-to-search "A through Z" format) and also offers a flashcard feature.

Answer to Case 579:

Entamoeba histolytica

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.