Answer to Case 706

 Answer to theParasite Case of the Week 706:Haycocknema perplexuminfectionWow, I am so impressed by the responses on this case! There are many helpful comments and links in the comment section of this blog which you may want to check out.Haycocknema perplexuminfection (haycocknematosis) is an extremely rare parasitic infection. There have only been 13 humans cases (including this one) reported to date. As Florida Fan noted, Blaine and I previously presented this case as a poster, and it has now been published inEmerging Infectious Diseases. You can read the articleHERE. The article describes the diagnostic features of this nematode in histologic sections, including the presence of adult females containing fertilized eggs. I included a photo of one such female in this case as it played a key component in the diagnosis.Note the presence of numerous (8-12) eggs (arrows) within the body of the female in this image. These eggs will hatch within the female, develop to 3rd stage larvae, and then burst through the head of the female, killing her in the process (yikes!) The larvae will mature into male or female worms within the muscle, and these will then mate and propagate the infection. This allows the infection to last for years (and potentially for the life of the host). As noted by Nema, it is very important to differentiate this infection with trichinellosis (a.k.a. trichinosis), as the prognosis and treatment are very different. While both nematodes infect striated m...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs