Under the Skin

So, we've had the most romantic parasite, the most adorable parasite, and the best shape for a parasite egg.  Today, I give you the most childish parasite Plasmodium falciparum                    This is the parasite that causes malaria.  So, it will be a free roller-coaster ride of repetitive fever, chills, and in extreme cases, coma, liver failure and death.  The strange thing about a lot of parasites is that they simply reduce quality of living, but aren't big killers.  Plasmodium falciparum (and it's cousin plasmodia species vivax, ovale and malariae), do kill.  But, falciparum has this funky, childish thing that it does.  For those who are not familiar with the pathology of malaria, it invades the red blood cells.  Literally.  And when I say literally, I'm using it in its actual semantic usage and not in the popular usage of "I literally ate as much as a horse today," when they actually...

We continue.  In Parasitology, one of the things that you need to be able to do is distinguish them by their eggs.  Sometimes, this is easier than other times.  Because sometimes, the eggs look identical to all the other eggs.  But, some of the eggs are very distinguished--and this makes it possible for me to have a favorite. Trichuris trichuri (aka whipworms) Someday, this little baby on the left will hatch and grow up, and burrow his way into people's rectums and cecums and cause the elastic tissue to break down, causing something known as prolapsed rectum (only look it up if you have a strong stomach), and the urge to use the bathroom every minute of every day.  But, for now.  Look at him.  He's a very cute little baby.  With those little bipolar plugs, not only is he easy to spot, but he's just darn cute.  Not as cute as my nephews, but I'm not a whipworm, so I probably should find babies of my species cuter than those of another, ...

So, yesterday, we featured the most romantic parasite, even though not all of you agreed on that assessment.  Today for The Finals Week Parasite Special, we bring you the Most Adorable Parasite. Giardia intestinalis (or Giardia lamblia, they're exactly the same thing) This guy, even though he causes massive diarrhea, is adorable.  If he gets out of the intestines, he can also cause severe liver failure and other extraintestinal manifestations.  He usually doesn't kill you, though.  Just gives you about 2 1/2 weeks of pure bathroom misery.   But look at the guy!  He looks like a heart-shaped balloon that can't help but smile at you all day long.

For finals week, we have a special blog series.  Each day this week, we will feature a different parasite that is likeable in a weird way.  Today, I give you the Most Romantic Parasite. Schistosoma Mansoni     This blood fluke (which is weird, because fluke means flatworm, and schistosomes are round, but classified as flukes, probably because of their lifecycle), is really quite a meanie when you first think of him.  He causes acute schistosomiasis and chronic schistosomiasis.  Acute schistosomiasis is a febrile illness that doesn't usually kill you.  At least until you die of chronic schistosomiasis, which kills you by fibrotic organ failure.  And you get to live with blood-loss induced anemia for most of the rest of your life to boot. But, I'm going to tell you something adorable.  The males have a ventral groove.  They grow up, court their female, and when they find their eternal companion, they don't just get married and stay m...

The other day, I was just going about my business, and I reached up to scratch an itch on my neck.  But when I did, I felt a dry patch on my skin.  Only a medical lab science major (or something similar) would have the thought processes that I did. "Oh, no, it's a patch of dermatitis!  What if I have an allergy to something?  Oh no, it's zinc toxicity!  What if I have niacin deficiency and this is pellagra?  Dermatitis is the first sign of pellagra, and it's only two more d's (diarrhea and depression), before we hit the fourth d, which is DEATH!  Maybe it's Norwegian scabies!  Maybe it's a Leydig cell tumor, and women don't even have Leydig cells!" But then, the most likely explanation?  It's winter in Utah and even the ocean would dry up here.  And just a little bit of lotion, and it will go away, no sweat.

Even though I don't do as much Irish dancing as I used to, I still enjoy it, and it's still something that I'll never forget entirely.  And I still watch the Parade of Champions.  Every Irish dance competition ends with a Parade of Champions, where the winner of each Open Champion level of each age group gets to strut their stuff.  They also have the opportunity to incorporate crazy into it--I've seen people incorporate the moonwalk into an otherwise very traditional step.  I will generally watch the Parades after the Oireachtas.  An Oireachtas is kind of a regional championships.  And I am amazed each time. I came into Irish dancing when I was almost 16 years old.  I may be getting old, but that was about six years ago.  At that time, the skater jump was just coming into being and competition.  Essentially, the skater jump is an axle on not-ice and starting without building momentum and ending it without ice to get rid of your momentum....

There is a huge spike in the incidence of Superhero movies.  But, I haven't seen them.  Not because I don't want to.  I would be perfectly happy to watch any of them, but it just never has happened.  In fact, I've recently been told that I need to watch Superhero movies.  Because the only ones I have seen were the Supermans from the 70s.  Yeah, the ones with Christopher Reeve.  So, last night, I began to satiate this "need" that I have recently been told I have.  I watched "The Amazing Spiderman."  It was good.  I really did like it.  I just have one thing to say: Why doesn't Spiderman die without hospital care? I actually have to give the movie credit.  After a fight, this Spiderman has cuts, bruises and other abrasions and he actually keeps them for a realistic amount of time, and their appearance follows healing patterns.  But, this adds to the suspension of disbelief for the serious injuries.  My roommate tried ...