At the meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygeine in Chicago, Natasha joins TWiP to solve the case of the Man with a Generalized Seizure and Infectious Forms in the Brain.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Daniel Griffin, and Christina Naula

Guest: Natasha Spottiswoode

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Links for this episode

• Treatment of Balamuthia encephalitis with nitroxoline (Emerg Inf Dis)
• Letters read on TWiP 222

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Case Study for TWiP 222

Haitian creole speaking, cachetic female in her 50s w/ hx HIV (noncompliant on medication), migrating from Haiti brought in by her daughter for dysphagia, cough x days, associated with NBNB vomiting, oral thrush extending to soft palate, concerning for oropharyngeal candidiasis. Weeks of nonresolving diarrhea. Admitted for failure to thrive and deconditioning, found to be Parainfluenza 3 positive), undergoing TB rule out. Diarrhea is voluminous, pt is dehydrated, there has been significant weight loss and lethargy over the last few weeks.

MHx:

HIV 

Shx:

Lives in haiti

Remarried, Last sexual encounter 2 years ago.

Denies illicit drug use. Drinks alcohol 

Allergies: No Active Allergies

Labs return with CD4 count in the 50s, elevated viral load. CD4 55/3%

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Michelle 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.

Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

Music by Ronald Jenkees