Case of the Week 596

By Bobbi Pritt, M.D. • June 24, 2020

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This week's case was donated by Dr. Bobby Boyanton. The images show cross-sections of an appendix from a young girl with chronic abdominal pain. The pathologist became concerned when they saw the following objects within the lumen of the appendix (taken using 4x, 10x, 20x, 20x and 40x objectives, respectively). 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 596:

Plant material; likely plant epidermis from leafy material.

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.