The TWiPians solve the case of the Woman With Anemia, Eosinophila, and a Worm in Her Intestine, and discuss a study on the function and druggability of two malarial aspartate proteases.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• Malaria plasmepsins involved in invasion and egress (Science)
• Letters read on TWiP 143

Case Study for TWiP 143

From 1990s seen by a colleague, boy late teens, initially presented to ER in US chief complaint, visual disturbances and itching preventing sleep. Immigrated from Oaxaca, searching for work. Lived in modest dwelling with dirt floors, no running water, got from local river. Reports dogs, farm animals, many insects. On exam: tender nodules on head, skin irritated from scratching, small punctate lesions on right cornea. Is referred to specialists. Ophthalmologist called in, referred for further diagnostics.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPsids solve the case of the Guatemalan Positive for Rhinovirus, and reveal how to kill all African trypanosomes with a primate apolipoprotein.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• APOLs kill all African trypanosomes (Nat Micro)
• Trypanocidal properties of APOL1 on TWiP 85: Channeling tryps
• Letters read on TWiP 142

Case Study for TWiP 142

Woman in 50s, immigrant from rural area with limited resources. Admitted to hospital with iron deficient anemia and eosinophilia. In US. Sent for colonoscopy. Note long slender serpiginous motile object, recovered, 4.5 cm long, one end slender, other large and curled but not blunt. Send worm to parasitology lab for identification. What might fit description? Is this usually associated with eosinophilia? What about anemia, is severe or mild? Would this person have come from outside the US to acquire this, or could they have acquired the infection in the US.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiP Wataalamu solve the case of the One Year Old From Kenya With Moving Skin Lesions, and describe how to make mosquitoes refractory to Plasmodium with engineered symbiotic bacteria.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• Engineered Serratia make mosquitoes refractory to Plasmodium (Science)
• Operation Sea Spray (Wikipedia)
• Photo credit
• Letters read on TWiP 141

Case Study for TWiP 141

A 59 yo Spanish speaking female on Long Island originally from Guatemala. Goes to ER after returning from 10 day trip to visit friends and relatives in Guatemala and El Salvador with fever, cough, diffuse muscle aches, fatigue, chills. Respiratory pathogen panel done, positive for rhinovirus. Told that it's just a virus, go home. 5 days later returns with fever and chills, pain in upper belly, feels constipated. Admitted. No past med/surg, no allergies, no significant family history, no meds. Works cleaning houses. Travel: spends most time in and around big cities, lots of exposure to animals, ate all local fare; conch ceviche, fresh eggs, flattened chicken dish. Elevated white count left shifted, neutrophils increased, eosinophils cleared; cultured Salmonella from blood. IV antibiotics given, gets better, about to go out the hospital door, when results of stool O&P comes back from initial admission. Observed: Entamoeba coli; Endolimax nana; Blastocystis hominis. Released to home, 2 weeks later feels fine.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The triple TWiP solve the case of the Peace Corp Veteran with Eosinophilia, and discuss the genome sequence of the hyper-prevalent parasitic eukaryote Blastocystis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• Genome diversity of Blastocystis (PLoS Biol)
• Photo credit
• Letters read on TWiP 140

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. Get $30 off your first delivery and FREE SHIPPING by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 140

From Dr. Arthur Mumelo, northern Kenya. One-year-old girl. Brought by mother with skin lesions that developed a week prior. The lesions are five in total – on the forehead, neck, back, chest and right arm. The lesions look like boils/furuncles but keep changing size and appearance – like something is moving under the skin. They are painful and itchy. Child is breastfeeding well. No other complaints. Child was born at Nyahururu County Referral Hospital. Gets vaccinations at Melwa Health Centre (Rural), vaccinations are up to date. They live in a wooden house with a dirt floor, roofed with corrugated iron sheets. The house has two rooms. They sleep on raised beds. There is a big community dam in the neighborhood, with stagnant water throughout the year. They don’t use mosquito nets. They have reliable clean water supply from the government. They have one dog but the neighbors’ dogs also visit their compound and living area. They hang their clothes on the clothesline after washing; never dry their clothes on the grass. Clothes not hot-ironed. On Examination; Child is breastfeeding well, afebrile, no pallor, no jaundice, not in distress. Occipital lymphadenopathy; tender, mobile. Furuncles on the forehead, chest neck, back and right arm. They are 1-3cm in diameter and 0.5 cm high, tender, have a central punctum from which serosanguineous fluid is discharging.  This is a rural health centre – the only labs done are a peripheral blood film – which showed increased eosinophils and neutrophils. HIV test – negative.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPwalas solve the case of the Woman with a Worm in Her Eye, and discuss the role of nitric oxide in the resistance of rats to Schistosoma japonicum.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• Nitric oxide blocks schistosome development (PNAS)
• Photo credit: Dave the Sheep Shearer
• Letters read on TWiP 139

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 139

Seen at Columbia Medical Center, a crossover. Woman in 30s returns to US after 2 years in Peace Corp, Cameroon and Gabon. On medical exam 2 years earlier: eosiniphilia noted, no diagnosis reached. Now comes to NYC 2 years later to attend grad school, again eosinophilia noted. Asymptomatic.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPsters solve the case of the Child from DR with Poppy Seed Sized Things On His Head Hair Shafts, and reveal how the skin parasite landscape determines the infectiousness of Leishmania.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin

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Links for this episode:

• Tr (Cell Host Microbe)
• Letters read on TWiP 138

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 138

New Yorker, female teenager from an outer boroughs, visual loss in right eye noted during routine eye exam. Not sure when started. Left is 20-20, otherwise feels fine. No surgeries, no noted medical history, no medications, in school, living with family, no toxic habits. Travel: had been upstate NY in past year. No pets. Defect in right eye pupillary reflex, pallor to optic nerve. Serologies: toxocara, HCV, syphilis, all negative. Dilated fundal exam: sees 1850 microns motile worm in the eye. Not on surface, not Loa Loa.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiPtoids solve the case of the Man from India with a Neck Lump, and explore the role of a transmissible dysbiotic skin microbiome in inflammation during cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

Become a patron of TWiP.

Links for this episode:

• Transmissible dysbiotic skin microbiome in cutaneous leishmaniasis (Cell Host Microbe)
• Letters read on TWiP 137

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 137

Little town in DR, fall of 2016, have already mentioned this patient; little boy 2-3 years old, not behaving well, warned if doesn’t behave, los gusanos will eat you! Mother asks Daniel to help son: lately is more irritable, troublesome, not well behaved; notices things in his hair. Has small poppy seed sized things on side of hair shafts. She picks them off in fingers and smashes them. What are they, what do I do? Simple dwelling, dirt floor, walls and tin roof, animals everywhere. No money for medicines, what can she do?

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

The TWiP Titans solve the case of the Man from Queens with a Blister Burster, and explain the role of inflammatory monocytes during Leishmania infection of the skin.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

Become a patron of TWiP.

Links for this episode:

• Inflammatory monocytes and skin Leishmania (PLoS Path)
• Dracunculiasis (TWiP 37)
• Photo: Daniel using a LifeStraw
• Letters read on TWiP 136

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 136

Patient seen by Daniel in India, 18 yo Islamic college student, left home, living in dorms in south, Hindu couple prepare meals, called dorm parents. He is being seen because developed lump in left side of neck, 1-2 cm mass. Previously completely healthy, no med/surg, no allergies. Prays multiple times a day, observes dietary restrictions. Afebrile, normal, but has 2 cm firm nontender lump inside interior portion of sternocleido mastoid muscle. Not tender. End of November, rainy season. No screens on dorm windows. No animal contact. Ultrasound done, and was helpful. Noticed in his neck over several weeks.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Dickson returns to the TWiP hosts to solve the case of the Woman from Colorado With Loose Stools, and explain how single-sex infection with female Schistosoma mansoni reduces hepatic fibrosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

Become a patron of TWiP.

Links for this episode:

• ASM Grant Writing Online Course
• Single-sex Schistosoma infection (PLoS NTD)
• Asterix the Gaul
• Letters read on TWiP 135

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twip.

Case Study for TWiP 135

Patient seen in clinic by Daniel's colleague, living in Queens, needs home care. Man with wound on foot, needed daily care. Living 9 months, recently developed painful blister, he put his foot in water, got great relief, blister opened up. Open lesion did not look normal, there was something in blister. Went to see parasitologist, saw something there, wrapped it around piece of wood. Not previously seen a physician, no surgeries, knew little family history. New to our country, where could he have possibly come from? Rural part of some country. Resource limited region. How many days of treatment will he need?

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees

Daniel and Vincent solve the case of the Haitian Girl Who Failed To Thrive, and visit two studies that address the question of whether infection with Toxoplasma gondii alters human behavior.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin

Links for this episode:

• ASM Grant Writing Online Course
• Is Toxoplasma infection related to brain and behavior impairments? (PLoS One)
• Toxoplasma infection and sexual attraction (Evol Psychol)
• TWiP 21 - The giant intestinal worm, Ascaris lumbricoides
• Candiru (Wikipedia)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiP 134

Case Study for TWiP 134

Woman in 30s, coming in Colorado to be seen, reports foul smelling loose stools multiple times each day, cramping and nausea. Started a few weeks ago. No fever, summer, no unusual travel, skiing up in mountains, hiking, backpacking. Originally from NE, moved to Colorado one year before. Often drinks from streams. Treats water with iodine. On overnight trips pack food and cook on stoves. Sticky stools, trouble wiping clean. Yes, my stools do float. Color, not as dark. Well formed. No medical problems, no surgeries, no allergies. Takes no medications. Lives alone in private home. Drinks beer, no other toxic habits. None of her friends report similar problems. Sexually active, does not always use protection. Physical exam: unremarkable.

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

Music by Ronald Jenkees