This Week in Parasitism20 Aug 2023

TWiP 220: Denies any bug bites

TWiP solves the case of the Hiker from Queens who Denies Bug Bites, and reveal two different malaria experimental vaccines that target different parts of the parasite life cycle.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Daniel Griffin, and Christina Naula

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Links for this episode

Malaria transmission-blocking vaccine (Lancet Inf Dis)
mRNA vaccine against malaria (Nat Immunol)
Letters read on TWiP 220

Become a patron of TWiP

Case Study for TWiP 220

Sent by Michelle and Alexander from the First Vienna Parasitology Passion Club

A 36 year old male presents to the local ED with shortness of breath. Additional symptoms included a stinging pain in different parts of his extremities, fatigue, abdominal cramps and bowel irregularities. On exam he was resting comfortably and his vitals were normal, but the patient appears very distressed by his symptoms. His left eye showed signs of irritation, including redness and swelling. A detailed history reveals travel to the Caribbean about 4 years ago and several short trips to central and east Africa, all between 5 and 10 years ago. His initial labs were grossly unremarkable and a chest x-ray showed no abnormalities. The patient himself suspected a specific parasitic etiology of his symptoms, so we performed a number of serologies and stool examinations in search of parasitic diseases. None of the tests revealed evidence of an ongoing infection.

He is HIV negative and not sexually active at the moment. He has no pets and no other recent travel history. He eats a normal diet and has been out of work for two years.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this fantastic project! All the best,

Michelle and Alexander from the First Vienna Parasitology Passion Club

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(285)

TWiP 285: Why Is Cyclospora So Hard to Contain? Parasitologists Explain the 2026 US Outbreak

TWiP reviews our current understanding of the biology of Cyclospora, the parasite currently causing a large multistate outbreak in the US traced to contaminated lettuce, and why it is so difficult to ...

6 Aug 52min

TWiP 284: It's not the pork

TWiP solves the case of the 39-year-old man originally from Guatemala, who moved to one of the NYC boroughs in 2023 and presented with headaches for nearly 1 year. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Daniel Gr...

27 Jul 50min

TWiP 283: Warming up to cryptosporidiosis

TWiP reviews the projected impact of climate change on the burden of Cryptosporidium in Mali, Kenya, and The Gambia. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Christina Naula Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Goo...

7 Jul 1h

TWiP 282: Does he live in New York?

TWiP solves the case of the nonbinary patient in his 30s with a history HIV/AIDS presenting with 3 weeks of subjective fevers, chills, generalized weakness and voluminous ostomy output. Hosts: Vincent...

24 Jun 53min

TWiP 281: Ants under the influence

TWiP reviews gene expression in wood ants infected with the larval lancet fluke, which causes them to leave their nest and attach to a flower until they are eaten by a grazing mammal. Hosts: Vincent R...

22 Jun 58min

TWiP 280: The wriggling diagnosis

TWiP solves the case of the 3 yo child, who recently immigrated to the US from Central America, in the ER with acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain and a rather active serpiginous wormlike 'thing...

29 Mai 57min

TWiP 279: Tolling for hookworms

TWiP reviews a phase 2 clinical trial of a recombinant vaccine against N. americanus glutathione S-transferase-1, an enzyme that performs a crucial enzymatic step in hookworm blood feeding. Hosts: Vin...

1 Mai 50min

TWiP 278: Trichinella from eating bear eyeballs

TWiP solves the case of the male in his 20s from Hokkaido, Japan, who developed fatigue and rash, followed by fever and myalgia 6 days later, after eating a raw bear eyeball. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello...

24 Apr 56min