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Case #286 – October, 2010
A 21-year-old man attending a local music festival developed intermittent diarrhea and abdominal cramps on the second day. He went to his health care provider who requested a stool specimen for routine testing. Figures A–E show what was observed on a wet mount prepared from a formalin-ethyl acetate (FEA) concentration at 1000x oil magnification. The objects in Figures A and B measured 30 micrometers on average in length; the objects in Figures C–E measured 20 micrometers on average in length. What is your diagnosis? Based on what criteria?
Figure A
Figure B
Figure C
Figure D
Figure E
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/.