Sunday, July 19, 2009

Answer to Case 78

Identification: Trichinella spp. larvae

These are stage 1 larvae that were released from the female in the gut of the infected human, and then entered the blood stream and migrated to skeletal muscle. The type of preparation shown here is commonly called a "squash prep" since it is prepared by pressing or squashing a piece of muscle between 2 slides, or by using an instrument called a trichinelloscope. Note how the larvae are tightly coiled within the skeletal muscle fibers. There are different species of Trichinella that can infect humans and they are not distinguishable by morphology alone.

Congratulations to Salbrent and Sandhya who go the diagnosis correct.

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