This blood smear is from a Peace Corps volunteer in sub-Saharan Africa who returned two weeks ago and began to feel fevers, chills, night sweats, headaches, myalgias, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and cough.Challenge: Organism?
Image is in the public domain.
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2 comments:
Malaria...?
yes!
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Bad Air
Malaria is from the Medieval Italian words for bad air; other historic names include ague and marsh fever. It is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, vivax, ovale, and malariae; falciparum (Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Haiti, Amazon basin, Dominican Republic) and vivax (Central America, Middle East, India) are most common and falciparum is most deadly. Transmission is highest at the end of the rainy season via the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito between dusk and dawn. The image shows a thin-film Giemsa stain of P. falciparum.
Sources: UpToDate; Wikipedia.
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