Case of the Week 607

By Bobbi Pritt, M.D. • September 23, 2020

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This week's case was donated by my colleague, Dr. Tom Grys. Tom and I did our Clinical Microbiology fellowship together and had a lot of fun!

The following specimen was brought in by a patient after finding it near his eye upon awakening. He is concerned that it might be an ectoparasite or vector of human pathogens, and is hoping that the laboratory can provide this information. What is your identification, and how would you counsel the patient or patient's clinician?

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 607:

Beetle, not a human parasite.

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.