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Case #182 – June, 2006

A researcher was studying parasites of public health concern found in snails and slugs. A small portion of one specimen had tissue removed and placed in a small dish with a HCl/pepsin solution. Many larvae were observed in the dish, however most were dead or dying, but a few larvae were active. Figure A shows one of the active larvae in at wet mount captured at 200× magnification. Figure B shows a larva under differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy at 400× magnification. What is your identification of the objects? Based on what criteria?

Figure A

Figure B

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

DPDx is an educational resource designed for health professionals and laboratory scientists. For an overview including prevention, control, and treatment visit www.cdc.gov/parasites/.