Perspectives

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case features the following seen on skin scrapings from a young man with a 2-month history of severe itching in the back of his left ear. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case is from a middle-aged man. He noticed it in the toilet after a bowel movement. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case features a histopathology section of an appendix from a patient with Crohn's disease. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case features an elderly man on inhaled bronchodilators and steroids for persistent eosinophilic asthma who presented with fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. What parasite is present here?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case features objects seen in a concentrate from a diarrheic stool specimen. The objects measure approximately 60 micrometers in greatest dimension. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. The following structures were found in an unstained wet mount from a Belgian patient without any recent travel abroad. The patient reports intestinal discomfort for approximately 1 week. The structures measure approximately 20 micrometers in length. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. And now for something completely unrelated to COVID-19. For those of you able to get outdoors, keep a look out for these little critters. For those of you stuck inside, you might be happy that you are missing them. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. The object below was found in the undergarments of a 35 year-old woman. No other history is provided. What's the identification? How would you sign this case out?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. The following specimen was submitted to surgical pathology for examination. No additional history was available. What's the identification? What structures are we seeing here?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. This week's case was kindly donated by Monica Jarvis and Liliana Arias. The patient is a young child who lives on a family farm. The mother noticed "worms" in the child's stool and submitted them to the laboratory for identification. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. The following were seen in skin scrapings collected from a middle-aged man complaining of itching. The motile objects measure approximately 0.3 mm in length. What's the identification?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. The following objects were seen in an EDTA blood specimen obtained from a patient with recent travel to sub-Saharan Africa. What's the identification? What additional analysis might be indicated?

Every week, Mayo Clinic microbiologist Bobbi Pritt, M.D., posts a new Parasite Wonders case. 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. What's the identification?