This Week in Parasitism

The TWiPwalas solve the case of the Woman with a Worm in Her Eye, and discuss the role of nitric oxide in the resistance of rats to Schistosoma japonicum.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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• Nitric oxide blocks schistosome development (PNAS)
• Photo credit: Dave the Sheep Shearer
• Letters read on TWiP 139

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Seen at Columbia Medical Center, a crossover. Woman in 30s returns to US after 2 years in Peace Corp, Cameroon and Gabon. On medical exam 2 years earlier: eosiniphilia noted, no diagnosis reached. Now comes to NYC 2 years later to attend grad school, again eosinophilia noted. Asymptomatic.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPsters solve the case of the Child from DR with Poppy Seed Sized Things On His Head Hair Shafts, and reveal how the skin parasite landscape determines the infectiousness of Leishmania.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin

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• Tr (Cell Host Microbe)
• Letters read on TWiP 138

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

New Yorker, female teenager from an outer boroughs, visual loss in right eye noted during routine eye exam. Not sure when started. Left is 20-20, otherwise feels fine. No surgeries, no noted medical history, no medications, in school, living with family, no toxic habits. Travel: had been upstate NY in past year. No pets. Defect in right eye pupillary reflex, pallor to optic nerve. Serologies: toxocara, HCV, syphilis, all negative. Dilated fundal exam: sees 1850 microns motile worm in the eye. Not on surface, not Loa Loa.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPtoids solve the case of the Man from India with a Neck Lump, and explore the role of a transmissible dysbiotic skin microbiome in inflammation during cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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• Transmissible dysbiotic skin microbiome in cutaneous leishmaniasis (Cell Host Microbe)
• Letters read on TWiP 137

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Little town in DR, fall of 2016, have already mentioned this patient; little boy 2-3 years old, not behaving well, warned if doesn't behave, los gusanos will eat you! Mother asks Daniel to help son: lately is more irritable, troublesome, not well behaved; notices things in his hair. Has small poppy seed sized things on side of hair shafts. She picks them off in fingers and smashes them. What are they, what do I do? Simple dwelling, dirt floor, walls and tin roof, animals everywhere. No money for medicines, what can she do?

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiP Titans solve the case of the Man from Queens with a Blister Burster, and explain the role of inflammatory monocytes during Leishmania infection of the skin.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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• Inflammatory monocytes and skin Leishmania (PLoS Path)
• Dracunculiasis (TWiP 37)
• Photo: Daniel using a LifeStraw
• Letters read on TWiP 136

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Patient seen by Daniel in India, 18 yo Islamic college student, left home, living in dorms in south, Hindu couple prepare meals, called dorm parents. He is being seen because developed lump in left side of neck, 1-2 cm mass. Previously completely healthy, no med/surg, no allergies. Prays multiple times a day, observes dietary restrictions. Afebrile, normal, but has 2 cm firm nontender lump inside interior portion of sternocleido mastoid muscle. Not tender. End of November, rainy season. No screens on dorm windows. No animal contact. Ultrasound done, and was helpful. Noticed in his neck over several weeks.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Dickson returns to the TWiP hosts to solve the case of the Woman from Colorado With Loose Stools, and explain how single-sex infection with female Schistosoma mansoni reduces hepatic fibrosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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• ASM Grant Writing Online Course
• Single-sex Schistosoma infection (PLoS NTD)
• Asterix the Gaul
• Letters read on TWiP 135

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Patient seen in clinic by Daniel's colleague, living in Queens, needs home care. Man with wound on foot, needed daily care. Living 9 months, recently developed painful blister, he put his foot in water, got great relief, blister opened up. Open lesion did not look normal, there was something in blister. Went to see parasitologist, saw something there, wrapped it around piece of wood. Not previously seen a physician, no surgeries, knew little family history. New to our country, where could he have possibly come from? Rural part of some country. Resource limited region. How many days of treatment will he need?

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Daniel and Vincent solve the case of the Haitian Girl Who Failed To Thrive, and visit two studies that address the question of whether infection with Toxoplasma gondii alters human behavior.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin

• ASM Grant Writing Online Course
• Is Toxoplasma infection related to brain and behavior impairments? (PLoS One)
• Toxoplasma infection and sexual attraction (Evol Psychol)
• TWiP 21 - The giant intestinal worm, Ascaris lumbricoides
• Candiru (Wikipedia)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiP 134

Woman in 30s, coming in Colorado to be seen, reports foul smelling loose stools multiple times each day, cramping and nausea. Started a few weeks ago. No fever, summer, no unusual travel, skiing up in mountains, hiking, backpacking. Originally from NE, moved to Colorado one year before. Often drinks from streams. Treats water with iodine. On overnight trips pack food and cook on stoves. Sticky stools, trouble wiping clean. Yes, my stools do float. Color, not as dark. Well formed. No medical problems, no surgeries, no allergies. Takes no medications. Lives alone in private home. Drinks beer, no other toxic habits. None of her friends report similar problems. Sexually active, does not always use protection. Physical exam: unremarkable.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Daniel and Vincent solve the case of the Woman With Anal Area Discomfort, and discuss the multiple functions of a clathrin adapter protein in formation of rhoptry and microneme secretory organelles of Toxoplasma gondii.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin

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• Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education SciComm Issue (link)
• TWiP 19: Enterobius vermicularis, the pinworm
• Multiple roles of Toxoplasma gondii clathrin adaptor AP1 protein (PLoS Path)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiP 133

Seen while working in remote mountain makeshift mobile clinic in Dominican Republic, on Haitian border. Traveled 3 h by pickup truck, remote mountain town, womens centers. Set up makeshift mobile clinic in this center. Mother concerned about 6 yo girl, failure to thrive compared with sister, protuberant belly, frequent abdominal discomfort, going on over 1 year. No surgeries, no meds, first time ever seeing medical person. Mother and sister are family. Three children in family. Father does timber work. Very impoverished region, living in dirt floor home, drinking untreated water from local stream, go to bathroom outside, could be contamination. Diet: carbohydrate, plantains, rice, beans. On exam: lungs clear, heart fine, belly protuberant, liver and spleen not enlarged, some edema. Mother said noticed long motile worm in girls feces. Firm belly, not painful to her.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiP-tastic peeps solve the case of the Thai Man Coughing Up Blood, and reveal potential therapies for trypanosomiasis that are inhibitors of protein import into glycosomes.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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• Inhibitors of protein import into trypanosome glycosomes (Science)
• Hookworm (TWiP #22)
• Photo by Nita
• Letters read on TWiP 132

Young NYC woman with son (10), chief complaint of discomfort and itchiness in anal area. Has tried to look but nothing abnormal. Married, no complaints from husband or child. Two older kids have no complaints. But son has also been scratching in anal area. Everything fine 3 months ago, sister came to visit with 3 young pre-school children, may have caught something from them. No past med or surg history, no allergies. No meds, work out of home, no toxic habits, no recent travel. Have dog. Do lots of volunteering with children. History of sushi consumption. She does not like raw fish but son does. Worse itching at night. Going on for a number of weeks. Reports being under a lot of stress recently due to family.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Jonathan from the podcast Arthro-Pod joins the TWiPerati to solve the case of the Peruvian Woman With Inguinal Insect Bite, and discuss warm autoimmune hemolytic anemic that develops after babesiosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

Guest: Jonathan Larson

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• Jonathan Larson (Twitter, Google Plus)
• Arthro-Pod podcast
• Warm hemolytic anemia after babesiosis (NEJM)
• Tickborne diseases of the US (CDC)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiP 131

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase - WITH FREE SHIPPING - by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Thailand. 39 yo man reports 7 months of coughing up bright red blood, several times with mucus. Otherwise feels well. Big fan of salted crab som tum. Fisherman, lives with family. Healthy, no past med/surg problems. No meds. On seeing him: afebrile, chest xray abnormal: area of increased opacification. Not a smoker. No toxic habits.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

The TWiPniks solve the case of the Man With AIDS, and explore how secretion of extracellular vesicles influences the social motility of Trypanosoma brucei.

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• T. brucei exosomes and social motility (PLoS Path)
• Image credit
• Parasites Without Borders
• Letters read on TWiP 130

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what's on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase - WITH FREE SHIPPING - by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Back in Peru. 24 yo female seen in ER, lives in rural area outside of big city, adobe house in highlands, thatched roof, dirt floor, 3000 meters. Quite ill with skin lesion for 48 h. 2 days before was pulling on pjs, felt sharp sudden pain in right upper leg. Next day found small living creature in pajamas, inguinal region. Developed red lesion, enlarged, developed black central dot. Then begins vomiting, comes to hospital. No fever, breathing fast 20, hr 70, bp 160/10, on exam see in right inguinal region an enlarging, necrotic area 1-2 cm, starting to look sick. Whites at 26000, left shift, 200 platelets, eosinophils 4%, bilirubin 3.5, creatinine 4.9 (going into renal failure, not making much urine). Hematocrit 14, BUN 59.7, CPK 227, RBCs and leukocytes in urine. No health problems, no surgeries, first interaction with health system. No toxic habit. Brings in the small creature!

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to [email protected]

Music by Ronald Jenkees