2016 DPDx Case Studies

A 34-year-old male from Louisiana presented with abdominal discomfort. A stool specimen was collected in 10% formalin and a formalin-ethyl acetate (FEA) concentration was performed. A wet mount smear was prepared from the sediment and examined for ova and parasites (O & P).

A patient had two stool specimens submitted for ova and parasite (O & P) examination. Smears were made, stained with trichrome, and examined. Eosinophils and Charcot-Leyden crystals were observed in both specimens.

A 62-year-old man from Kenya had been living in rural Connecticut with relatives for 6 months when he developed fever, chills, and fatigue. The family took him to their health care provider for medical attention.

A 61- year-old man presented in 2015 with abdominal pain and was found to have a perforated sigmoid colon. Initial course notable for intra-abdominal collection, associated with the perforation, which was drained. Surgical procedures included sigmoid resection and diverting colostomy.

A stool specimen was collected from a 76-year-old man as part of a visit to his health care provider. The stool was collected in a single-vial preservative for ova-and-parasite testing.

A 25-year-old refugee from Myanmar had a stool specimen collected for routine ova-and-parasite examination as part of a post-arrival screening.

A 38-year-old female refugee from Congo had a routine blood workup and the findings revealed that she had low neutrophil count, low platelet count, and elevated eosinophil count.

A 27-year-old male with a medical history of AIDS and recent history of opportunistic infections such as Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) presented with fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, chest pain and malaise.

The mother of a four-year-old autistic boy found a worm in her son’s stool while changing his diaper. The family lives on a farm in rural Iowa.

A hunter prepared dried jerky from fresh bear meat and provided some to a group of friends. Most developed moderate to severe abdominal pain, nausea, and fatigue within 48 hours.

A six-year-old boy from Washington, D.C. presented with a non-migratory furuncle on his scalp several weeks after returning from a trip to Belize (Figures A and B).

A 22-month-old child presented to the emergency room after 10 days of cyclic fever and chills, decreased PO intake, and seizures. The child had emigrated from a country in the Middle East with her family three months prior.

A 62-year-old female from rural Manitoba Province, Canada presented to a health care provider with abdominal pain, diarrhea, and peripheral eosinophilia.

A stool specimen was collected from a 10-year-old boy from Cambodia as part of a refugee screening program. The stool was collected in 10% formalin and sent to the local county health department for routine ova-and-parasite (O&P) examination.

A 23-year-old female presented to her primary care provider with abdominal pain, cramps, flatulence, and diarrhea five days after returning from a white water rafting trip in the Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Sputum specimens were collected for routine microbiological work-up on an 18-year-old patient from Myanmar who presented with cavitary lung disease.

A 27-year-old man had worms excised from his eyelid and chest at a health care facility in Canada. The patient had traveled to Sudan two years earlier, but had not traveled since then.

A 34-year-old-woman sought medical assistance at a facility in New Zealand for rigors, fever, and headache. She had been diagnosed with malaria (species not determined) in 2012 in Mozambique and was treated with artesunate.

A 27-year-old HIV-positive male presented with abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea. He had a history of AIDS cholangiopathy. Recent microbiology results included bacteremia caused by Enterobacter species and sputum cultures positive for Mycobacterium avium-complex (MAC).

An 81-year-old female developed hyperkeratotic plaques between her fingers and toes while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Skin scrapings were performed on the plaques and sent to Microbiology for routine work-up.

A 20-year-old male from Ghana presented to a hospital with flu-like illness, hepatomegaly, thrombocytopenia, a low absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), an elevated absolute monocyte count (AMC), and lymphocyte reactive forms.

A 7-year-old boy was presented to his health care provider with symptoms of intermittent diarrhea, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. A stool specimen was collected in 10% formalin and zinc PVA (Zn-PVA) for routine ova-and-parasite (O&P) examination.

A 76-year-old male in India presented with swelling and redness in his right eye. He did not indicate any fever and had not traveled outside of India.

A 23-year-old female with no documented travel history presented with iron deficiency anemia and periodic abdominal pain. Ova-and-parasite (O&P) examinations of stool were negative.