Question

Write-up two clinical cases for two different parasitic infections. you must provide the answer for the clinical case.

Example of clinical cases: (patient is an elderly man, normal childhood vaccine history, ii) patient reports to his doctor with a fever, cough, and shortness of breath, iii) catalase-negative, optochin-sensitive, Gram positive diplococci are obtained from a sputum sample) answer: Streptococcus pneumoniae

Answer 1

1.

A 31 year old male who emigrated from Mexico 3 years prior to admission, was brought to the ER by his family with a witnessed seizure.  He had been previously healthy. Neurologic examination demonstrated no focal findings. A CT scan of the head showed multiple small cystic and calcified lesions. CSF analysis showed 22 WBC's, with 5 % neutrophils,  89 %lymphocytes and 6 % monocytes. The CSF glucose  was 63 mg/dl and protein was 36 mg/dl.

Answer: Taenia solium (pork tapeworm), the prevalence of infection is high in Mexico.

2.

A 53 year old female presented with fever, rigors, malaise, and headaches for the past 2 days. She had lived in Zaire for 8 months, where she had been hospitalized with similar complaints and treated empirically with chloroquine.

She returned to the US two days prior to admission. Her temperature was 102 degrees, Pulse 90, and BP 130/70. On physical examination, the spleen tip was palpable. The WBC count was 4100 / mm3, and the hemoglobin was 8.5 g /dl.

Answer: Plasmodium falciparum.