Microbiology / Infectious Disease

The "Mpls-St Paul" magazine article highlights Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Director of the Clinical Parasitology Lab and Co-Director of Vector-Borne Diseases Lab Services in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology, and her research on ticks and parasites.

Bobbi Pritt, M.D., spends her work hours identifying and diagnosing infectious diseases. In her free time, she celebrates their beauty by creating bug-related artwork and blogging about parasites.

Mayo Clinic laboratory workers have a new tool to perform high tech genetic sleuthing for the source of stubborn, sometimes life-threatening bacteria.

On the June 2 broadcast of Mayo Clinic Radio, co-hosts Tracy McCray and Tom Shives, M.D., spoke with Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Director of the Mayo Clinic Clinical Parasitology Lab, about common tick-borne diseases and how to prevent them.

In this Mayo Clinic Radio "Health Minute," Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Director of the Clinical Parasitology Lab and Co-Director of Vector-Borne Diseases Lab Services at Mayo Clinic, explains how the lone star tick's bite can cause an allergic reaction to meat.

It's time to start preparing for what could be a bumper crop of ticks across the U.S. As the last of the winter's snow melts, ticks start coming up from under the grass looking for a blood meal. In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a Mayo Clinic parasitic diseases expert, explains an easy trick to remember the best ways to protect yourself from tick bites.

Illnesses caused by disease-infected ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas have tripled in the U.S. in recent years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lyme disease is the most common illness attributed to ticks.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Robin Patel, M.D., will review the laboratory methods used to diagnose infectious endocarditis. Specifically, she’ll discuss the role of blood cultures, nucleic acid amplification tests, histopathology, and recently, broad-range bacterial sequencing, and how these methods can assist in the diagnosis of this disease.

A recent article in HealthDay News reported on a case of an avid 26-year-old outdoorswoman from Oregon who became the first human ever infected by a type of eye worm previously seen only in cattle. Audrey Schuetz, M.D., Senior Associate Consultant in the Division of Clinical Microbiology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic, comments on the eye worm.

A recent BuzzFeed article reported on 22-year-old Katie Stephens and her boyfriend, Eddie Zytner, a Canadian couple who recently went on a beach vacation in the Dominican Republic. During their vacation, they both developed cutaneous larva migrans, a skin infection caused by hookworms. Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Director of the Clinical Parasitology Lab and Co-Director of Vector-Borne Diseases Lab Services in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology, weighs in on the infection.

Bobbi Pritt, M.D., Director of the Clinical Parasitology Lab and Co-Director of Vector-Borne Diseases Lab Services in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology, discusses a unique story with Outbreak News about a man, who claimed he ate sushi daily, who presented to his doctor a 5½ foot-long tapeworm. Listen to the podcast.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Elitza Theel, Ph.D. will discuss a new interferon-gamma release assay that can assist in the detection of individuals that are infected with tuberculosis.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin recently highlighted Bobbi Pritt, M.D.'s, “Creepy, Dreadful, Wonderful Parasites” blog, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary in October with a parasite-themed art contest and giveaways.