Parasitology for students and the rest of us
The patient is a 55 year-old male undergoing a colonoscopy. He has had a history of vague abdominal discomfort but his colonoscopy was part of his routine workup related to a family history of colon cancer and a previous colonoscopy that resulted in the removal of two polyps. While performing the colonoscopy small objects were …
Continue reading "A Colonoscopy With an Unexpected Finding (Part 1)"
The answers to the clinical case study are the following: What is the identification of the parasite seen in the image? The identification of the parasite eggs in the image is that of the lung fluke. This patient has paragonimiasis. In this case, given the geographical location, the species is Paragonimis kellocotti or the North American …
Continue reading "Hemoptysis in a 19-year old college student – make the diagnosis (Part 2)"
The patient is a 19-year-old athletic male with no prior medical history presenting to an urgent care clinic with dyspnea, wheezing, and an intermittent cough. The patient also reports that on occasion he coughs up blood-tinged sputum. The hemoptysis was first noticed about two weeks ago. His dyspnea is especially worsened during his workouts as …
Continue reading "Hemoptysis in a 19-year old college student – make the diagnosis (Part 1)"