This Week In Parasitism

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The prolific podcast-shedding Hosts solve the case of the Global Health Intern with a snakelike lesion on her foot, and reveal the role of a single-stranded DNA binding protein in differentiation of trypanosomes. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: RPA protein and differentiation of T. cruzi (PLoS NTD) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 124 Case Study for TWiP 124 28 yo male from referral hospital near thai-burma border. Fever and chills 2 days, feels poorly, small amount of dark urine. Severe shaking chills, 1x per day, no rash. No diarrhea, difficulty breathing. Seen by local health care volunteer, went to hospital then tertiary hospital in Bangkok. Exposure history to pigs, dogs, insects, etc. Involved in timber industry and farming, sleeping out at night with no cover, clothes and sandals. No meds. Not married, family lives with him. Family is fine. Sleep in dwelling but no screens. No toxic habits, HIV negative, sexually acti

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPanorama solve the case of the Dutch Woman with Wormy Objects in Her Stool, dissect a study on cytoadhesion of malaria infected red blood cells, and introduce Parasitology Superheroes. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: Myiasis (Wikipedia) Cytoadhesion of Plasmodium in severe malaria (PLoS Path) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 123 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Case Study for TWiP 123 Nurse in early 20s, recent grad, decides to spend year in global health internship in western DR/Haitian border. On her foot has skin issue: told is fungal infection, using antifungal cream, is getting worse.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPniks docs solve the case of the Female from Peru with Epistaxis, and discuss the effect of community deworming on immunosuppression. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: Community deworming and immune hyporesponsiveness (PNAS) Paul C. Beaver (one, two) Photo by Oscar Adam Oscarson Letters read on TWiP 122 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This show is sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable , yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. This Holiday season give someone a Drobo to keep all their files and memories safe forever. TWiV listene

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPanosome docs solve the case of the Mali Man with Profuse Diarrhea, and review the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi in vectors, canids, and humans along the Texas-Mexico border. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: T. cruzi in vectors, canids, humans at Mexican border (PLoS NTD) Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Wikipedia) T. cruzi in US (Clin Micro Rev) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 121 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Case Study for TWiP 121 Back to Peru. 55 yo female from highland central valley area near Cuzco. Works in farming, no prior skin lesions but has multiple hypopigmented scars on expo

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiP triumvirate solve the case of the Thai Woman with Facial Swelling, and explain how Th17 T cells protect against the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: Th17 cells protect against Trypanosoma cruzi (PLoS Path) Plasticity of helper CD4+ cells (Science) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 120 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Case Study for TWiP 120 A 48 yo man from Mali comes to hospital ER in Washington Heights in NY with profuse watery diarrhea. Born in Mali, came to US at 18, working in US as long haul truck driver for 30 y, frequently visits Mali, recen

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin Vincent and Daniel solve the case of the Family with Eosinophilia, and discuss HIV-1 infection and genome integration in the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni. Become a patron of TWiP. Links for this episode: Family cluster of eosinophilia (Clin Inf Dis) Dientamoeba fragilis (Wikipedia) Parasites without borders HIV integrates into Schistosoma genome (PLoS Path) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 119 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Case Stud

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPinella solve the case of the Woman from Guinea, and describe the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to identify essential apicomplexan genes. Links for this episode: Malarias in Guinea (CDC) Genome-wide CRISPR screen in Toxoplasma (Cell) Plasmodium parasitemia associated with increased Ebola survival (Clin Inf Dis) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 118 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TW

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The parasite prophets solve the case of the Thai Man with Abdominal Distention, and discuss the finding that metastatic leishmaniasis dependent on a virus can be prevented by blocking IL-17A. Links for this episode: TWiP 27: Trematodes Leishmaniavirus and IL-17A dependent leishmaniasis (PLoS Path) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 117 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 117 Wo

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPtoids solve the case of the Thai Fisherman with Chronic Diarrhea, and reveal a potential new drug for treatment of leishmaniasis, Chagas diseases, and sleeping sickness. Links for this episode: Capillaria philippensis (Wikipedia) Proteasome inhibitor for three parasitic diseases (Nature) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 116 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 116 This

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPlets solve the sad case of the Boy Who Went Swimming, and explain why the tomato is resistant to the plant parasite Cuscuta. Links for this episode: Detection of plant parasite by a tomato receptor (Science) Dodder (Wikipedia) Mixed messages (TWiP 77) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 115 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 115 This week's case is more challenging, but

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiP troika solve the case of the Female from the Bronx, and reveal how feeding on different plants affects mosquito capacity to transmit malaria. Links for this episode: Plant mediated effects on malaria transmission (PLoS Path) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 114 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 114 12 year old boy brought to hospital ER by parents with severe headac

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin Guest: Jason Zucker The TWiP ternion solve the case of the Man from Mexico, and discuss a transgenic toxoplasma vaccine for chickens using Eimeria tenella. Links for this episode: Transgenic Eimeria as a toxoplasma vaccine (Sci Rep) Image shows cysticercus of T. solium in brain (Parasitic Diseases, 5th Ed) Letters read on TWiP 113 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 113 22 yo female comes to clinic in Bronx, reports one week of vaginal discharge and itching. Looks bad, yellowish. Sexually active with boyfriend. He has no symptoms. Some discomfort on urination. Healthy, no p

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiP trio solve the case of the Woman from Washington Heights, and reveal how helminth infection protects mice deficient in the Crohn's disease gene NOD2 from intestinal disease by inhibiting colonization with an inflammatory bacterial species.   Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email Links for this episode: Helminth infection promotes colonization resistance (Science) NOD2 (Wikipedia) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 112 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Become a patron of TWiP. Case Study for TWiP 112 A case here at CUMC, 59 yo male, past medical history of childhood polio, presents w

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiP trio solve the case of the bug bites all in a row, and talk about a secreted Toxoplasma protein that is central to the parasite's manipulation of host cells.   Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, Google Play Music, by the RSS feed or by email Links for this episode: Pigeon mites feed on humans at night (EPA) Secreted Toxoplasma protein (mBio) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 111 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Case Study for TWiP 111 82 yo woman living in Washington Heights NYC 10 days of watery diarrhea, not smelly, does not float. Wakes her up at night. No fever, sweats at night. Losing some weight, ap

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin Guest: Paul Calle The TWiP trio visit the Bronx Zoo where Paul solves the case of the Four Year Old with Pulmonary Edema, and talks about his career as the Chief Veterinarian and Director of the Zoological Health program for the Wildlife Conservation Society.   Links for this episode: Bronx Zoo Avian malaria (Wikipedia) Letters read on TWiP 110 Video of this episode at YouTube This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE. Case Study for TWiP 110 This week's case involves humans. Young woman, 40s, concerned about bug bites. Several weeks ago her 13 year old daughter woke up in morning, reported bug bites. Several small, red, rai

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin Guest: Paul Daniel and Vincent solve the case of the Truck Driver from India, discuss why parasites resistant to an antimalarial drug are not transmitted by mosquitoes, and introduce Paul who presents a new case study.   Links for this episode: Atovaquone resistant parasites not transmitted by mosquitoes (Science) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 109 This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world's best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/m​icrobe ​and use the promo code MICROBE​. Send your case diagnosis, questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The case of the Man from Assam is solved, and phagocytosis of Leishmania by B-1 cells is brought to you by the Three Twipeteers on this episode of TWiP.   Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, Google Play Music, by the RSS feed or by email Links for this episode: Kalazar detect (pdf) Phagocytosis of Leishmania promastigotes by B-1 cells (Parasite Immunol) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 108 This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest and ASM Microbe 2016 Case study for TWiP 108 Todays case is a 26 yo male longhaul truck driver from northern tiger country of India. Comes into hospital at end of rainy season with 6 days of fever, chills, muscle aches, small loose stools, vomiting, trouble breathing, cough, decreased urine output. Lives in mud hut with coconut leaf roof. No one else in family  is sick (wife, two children). Significant animal and insect exposure (dogs, cows, monkeys). Got sick after coming home from a trip up north. No sign

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPtastic trio solves the case of the Surfer from Switzerland, and reveal how taste-chemosensory tuft cells in the gut regulate immune responses to parasites. Links for this episode: Taste-chemosensory cells and parasite gut immunity (Science) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 107 This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest and ASM Microbe 2016  Case study for TWiP 107 Todays case is a fun case about a 45 year old gentleman from Assam India, with sixteen years of fever, abdominal pain, darkening of skin, yellowing of eyes. Farmer, does not have much energy. Works barefoot in fields. Fever occurs every other day. Prior medical problems, nothing out of the ordinary. No surgeries, no meds, has never seen physician. Married, kids, no extramarital affairs, HIV negative, eats mostly cooked vegetables. Lives in concrete house, no screens, mosquito netting. Other people in area have similar problems. Water comes from pump, fill plastic jug

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiP triumvirate solves the case of the Missionary in Kenya, and review the finding of a soldier caste in flatworms that parasitize snails. Links for this episode: Social organization in parasitic flatworms (J Parasitol) Image credit Letters read on TWiP 106 This episode is sponsored by ASM Agar Art Contest  Case study for TWiP 106 This week's case comes from an ophthalmologist colleague Florian in Switzerland. Swiss female, early 20s, returns after surfing vacation in northern Africa. Accommodations were rustic, lots of animal and insect exposure, right on the beach. No screens. Had loose stools there, now left eye is bothering her, eyelid swollen, eye red. This happened after return. Thinks she has seen things moving around in her eye. Opthalmologist gave eyedrops, now looking for second opinion. Healthy, no med/surg/allergies, no meds, student lives alone, occasional alcohol. No AIDS. Surfing in Morocco. Lots of insect bites. Little ti

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin The TWiPanosomes solve the case of the Young Man from Anchorage, and discuss how cestode parasites increase the resistance of brine shrimp to arsenic toxicity. Links for this episode: Trichinella life cycle (pdf) When parasites are good for health (PLoS Path) The Origin of AIDS by Jacques Pepin Letters read on TWiP 105  Case study for TWiP 105 This week's case involves a 32 yo male with several concerns. Spent 6 weeks doing religious missionary work in Kenya, performed baptisms in Lake Victoria.Waist deep in water, no shoes. Took malaria drugs, ate lots of interesting foods: cichlids, ugali, corn based food, flavored with greens; stew with some sort of meat, beef and goat. Five weeks after return developed rash with fever, shortness of breath. Three of four friends who were with him in Kenya reported similar symptoms. The fourth who did not get sick did not go in water, nor did he eat very much. No medical/surgical history, no drugs. Had some