This Week in Parasitism
TWiP solves the case of the Manhattan man with pain on urination or ejaculation, and presents a new case for you to solve. Hosts: , , , and Christina Naula Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Hero: on TWiP 247 New Case A middle-aged male is referred to evaluation because of eosinophilia. This man is married, living here in the NY tristate area, and this was picked up on ‘routine blood work’ by his primary care doctor. This man had been in the military, serving as a marine, with time spent in Okinawa,...
info_outline TWiP 246: Everything spiral: a worm in a hurryThis Week in Parasitism
TWiP taps into Dickson’s knowledge of Trichinella to discuss an outbreak in humans who consumed rare bear meat, and the impact of globalization and climate change on the epidemiology of the species. Hosts: , , and Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Outbreak of (CCDR) Impact of on Trichinella (Food Waterborne Parasit) on TWiP 246 Become a of TWiP Send your questions and comments to Music by
info_outline TWiP 245: Flying purple people eater with Ben LaBrotThis Week in Parasitism
Founder of Floating Doctors Ben LaBrot joins TWiP to solve the case of the 1 year old in northeastern Panama with a fatal leg infection, followed by a discussion of the history and mission of Floating Doctors. Hosts: , , and Guest: Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV on TWiP 245 New Case A man in his early 20s comes in reporting pain when he urinates or ejaculates. He reports that he is sexually active. He does confide that he has been in a relationship with a woman but he had a sexual encounter outside this...
info_outline TWiP 244: Engineering ToxoplasmaThis Week in Parasitism
Lilach Sheiner joins TWiP to talk about her career and her work on engineering Toxoplasma gondii secretion systems for intracellular delivery of multiple large therapeutic proteins to neurons. Hosts: , , and Guest: Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Engineering T. gondii for (Nat Micro) Become a of TWiP Send your questions and comments to Music by
info_outline TWiP 243: Don't blame it on MexicoThis Week in Parasitism
TWiP solves the case of the Woman with White Worms, and submits a new case involving a 1 year old in northeastern Panama with a fatal leg infection. Hosts: , , , and Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Enterobius, the pinworm () Hero: New Case This case comes from Panama mid summer 2024. A provider for Floating Doctors working in the coastal region in northeastern Panama. This case involves a one year old, so the history is a bit difficult, but there may have initially been a scratch or some sort of break in...
info_outline TWiP 242: Worms impair COVID vaccinesThis Week in Parasitism
TWiP reviews a study showing that intestinal helminth infection impairs vaccine-induced T cell responses through an IL-10 pathway, which compromised protection against antigenically drifted SARS-CoV-2 variants. Hosts: , and Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV impair COVID vaccines (Sci Trans Med) Heligmosomoides (Wiki Commons) Become a of TWiP Send your questions and comments to Music by
info_outline TWiP 241: There once was a patient from ChinaThis Week in Parasitism
info_outline TWiP 240: A daily history of malaria with Sean MurphyThis Week in Parasitism
Sean Murphy joins TWiP to discuss his career and the work of his laboratory to assess the daily natural history of asymptomatic Plasmodium infections in adults and older children in Katakwi, Uganda. Hosts: , and Guest: Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV of Plasmodium infections (Lancet Microbe) Become a of TWiP Send your questions and comments to Music by
info_outline TWiP 239: Cryptosporidiosis from NYC tap water in an AIDS patientThis Week in Parasitism
TWiP solves the case of the AIDS patient who developed fever and watery diarrhea after drinking NYC tap water, and present a new case for your sleuthing. Hosts: and Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Cryptosporidium () on TWiP 239 Become a of TWiP New Case Man in his 70s originally from Mainland China, then Hong Kong who has been living in the US for decades is admitted to the hospital with fever for 6 days. He reports that he saw his primary care physician in Queens and was referred to the...
info_outline TWiP 238: Eliminating sleeping sicknessThis Week in Parasitism
Michael Barrett joins TWiP to discuss progress in the elimination of human African trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. Hosts: , and Guest: Subscribe (free): , , , Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Elimination of human (PLoS NTD) Hero: Become a of TWiP Send your guesses to with TWiP 237 in the subject line Send your questions and comments to Music by
info_outlineMichelle and Alexander join TWiP to solve their case of the 36 Year Old Male with shortness of breath, stinging pain in the extremities, fatigue, abdominal cramps, and bowel irregularities, and discuss host cell invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Daniel Griffin, and Christina Naula
Guests: Michelle Naegeli and Alexander Grieb
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Links for this episode
- cAMP-dependent invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi (PLoS NTDS)
- Letters read on TWiP 220
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Case Study for TWiP 221
This is the case of a man in his 50s, with no remarkable prior medical history, who received care at a hospital in northern California, USA, after experiencing a generalized seizure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a solitary left temporal lobe T2 hyperintensity with gadolinium rim enhancement and surrounding edema. After receiving treatment with dexamethasone and levetiracetam, he was transferred to an academic medical center.
Examination by neurology consultants noted disorientation, inattention, moderate aphasia (difficulty communicating), and mild right hemiparesis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) testing revealed increased nucleated cells up to 80/UL (60% lymphocytes, 17% neutrophils, 23% monocytes), protein concentration 38 mg/dL, and glucose concentration 100 mg/dL.
They proceed to do a brain biopsy from the left temporal lobe lesion with cultures from the brain biopsy sample that did not grow bacteria, fungi, or mycobacteria. They performed metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) on a CSF sample and sent brain biopsy samples for universal broad-range PCR amplicon sequencing (uPCR) for bacteria, fungi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and nontuberculous mycobacteria. which is preliminarily reported as showing well-formed granulomata with acute inflammation. Rereview of neuropathology raised concern for certain round infectious forms that are about 50um in size with some surrounding clearing and a dark area within these forms.
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Music by Ronald Jenkees