Case #367 – March 2014

A citizen of the Netherlands presented with abdominal discomfort after returning home from a two-month trip to Suriname. During the second month of his trip, he noticed the appearance of blood and mucus in his stool. After he returned home he visited his primary care provider, where stool specimens were collected for routine ova-and-parasite examination. Figure A shows what was observed in low numbers in a Ridley-Allen concentration of the stool. The objects measured on average 125 micrometers long by 62 micrometers wide. What is your diagnosis? Based on what criteria?

This case and image were kindly provided by the Laboratory for Medical Microbiology and Public Health Twente Achterhoek, Enschede, Netherlands.

Images presented in the DPDx case studies are from specimens submitted for diagnosis or archiving. On rare occasions, clinical histories given may be partly fictitious.