January, 2001

Case 51
A 42-year-old landscape architect offered to help his 16-year-old daughter with her science fair project.  She wanted to demonstrate some of the cellular components of human blood.  Her father used a sewing needle, sterilized with rubbing alcohol, to prick his finger and then placed one drop of blood on two glass slides.  She made thin blood films using a technique she saw on the DPDx Web site.  She took the dried blood films to class and followed the procedure for Giemsa staining she obtained from the same Web site.  While examining one of the stained blood films, she saw several objects that she could not identify (Figures A, B, and C).  Her father was not ill at the time and had not been for several months.  What is your diagnosis?  Based on what criteria?

A	B

C

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Case 52
A small group of military cadets conducted survival training in Central America for one week during the summer.  They were not given any food or water and were instructed to make use of the resources available in the wilderness.  Two months after the exercise, one cadet went to the infirmary complaining of sharp abdominal pain that he had been experiencing for about two weeks.  The cadet recalled eating various insects, including beetles, during the survival training.  He also remembered seeing a small pig farm approximately 30 miles from where they were camped.  The physician ordered an ova and parasites (O & P) stool examination.  Objects, like the one in Figure A, were seen in low numbers.  What is your diagnosis?  Based on what criteria?

A

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Images presented in the monthly case studies are from specimens submitted for diagnosis or archiving.  On rare occasions, clinical histories given may be partly fictitious.