TWiP 99: You get your polar bear from your nana

The TWiP trifecta solves the case of the Professor Who Went to Brazil, and discuss an amazing case of a tapeworm that turned into a tumor in an AIDS patient.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Daniel Griffin

• Do young doctors need more sleep? (Slate)
• H. nana tumor in AIDS patient (NEJM)
• Hymenolepiasis (CDC)
• H. nana lifecycle (CDC/Wikipedia)
• Image credit
• Letters read on TWiP 99

Case study for TWiP 99

This week's case is a 53 yo woman visiting family in US, comes in with intense belly pain, right upper part of belly. Has become strict vegetarian after having breast cancer, on raw vegetable diet (carrots, collect plants in local markets). From Bolivia. Lives in agricultural area, avoids sheep, fearful of dogs. Housekeeper. Married, lives with husband. Noticed pain when came to US. Breast cancer: localized, removed lesion, no therapy, months ago. No allergies, family healthy. No insect bites, lives in concrete house. Physical exam: not febrile, right upper quadrant is very tender, some liver enlargement. CBC: 10,000 white count, mostly eosinophils, liver function: AST, ALT, AlkPhos all normal. Neuro exam: normal. Five months before this diet, she did have normal diet. Some meat, drank milk.

Send your diagnosis to [email protected]

Send your questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]

Subscribe to TWiP (free) in iTunes, by the RSS feed or by email

TWiP is a MicrobeTV production