ID help needed. Parasites?

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Azuroo
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Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:07 am

ID help needed. Parasites?

#1 Post by Azuroo » Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:27 am

My kids received a (not so great quality) microscope as a gift recently. We've been able to look at all kinds of things under it and I'm hoping to buy one that's better quality in the future, when they're old enough not to destroy it. ;)

I've been sick for awhile and had no answers from doctors, so a few weeks ago we got the sudden idea to look at a tiny stool sample under our microscope. Gross, but also fascinating. The doctor thinks these are possibly giardia. I'd love to know if anyone else can ID anything out of the ordinary here. Sorry the pictures are big, it makes tiny things easier to see.

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JimT
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Re: ID help needed. Parasites?

#2 Post by JimT » Mon Dec 22, 2014 11:57 pm

No help here but I hope you are OK and will get your kids a good scope in the future. Great hobby.

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gekko
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Re: ID help needed. Parasites?

#3 Post by gekko » Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:10 am

I echo what JimT said. Best of luck.

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Oliver
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Re: ID help needed. Parasites?

#4 Post by Oliver » Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:33 am

Self-diganosis rarely works. 1/3 of the dry weight of stool are bacteria anyway. It is impossible in most cases to determine the organism directly from observation. You need biochemical or histological tests to do this. Chances are too big that you are simply observing indigestible food matter, etc.
Oliver.
Image Oliver Kim - http://www.microbehunter.com - Microscopes: Olympus CH40 - Olympus CH-A - Breukhoven BMS student microscope - Euromex stereo - uSCOPE MXII

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lorez
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Re: ID help needed. Parasites?

#5 Post by lorez » Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:08 pm

If you are interested in microscopic examination of fecal material, yours or your pets, do some research on "fecal float(ation)". This is a common test done in veterinary clinics that very successfully separates the parasite ova from the rest of the sample. Once the specimen is separated and examined it is easy to do some comparisons with photos which are widely available in veterinary literature. IF you find something of interest it is wise to consult a professional.

lorez

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SunshineLW
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Re: ID help needed. Parasites?

#6 Post by SunshineLW » Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:56 am

This is most likely NOT Giardia. These protozoa are ~10-20 micrometers in size and transparent without staining; therefore, you need ~1,000x magnification in order to properly identify without special staining (i.e., immunofluorescence).

However, the last image (i.e., the image containing the two, goldish-tan, oval-shaped structures) is quite interesting. By no means is this a diagnosis (one would beed a better image to properly identify), but they resemble eggs of the human liver fluke (Trematode) Clonorchis.

Here is a link to the CDC information about the parasite, including images of the Clonorchis eggs, which are found in the feces of infected individuals: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/clonorchis/

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