Snapshot!

Waterborne wildlife

No, not a hungry penguin lost in seaweed, but the parasite Giardia lamblia, about to attach itself to the duodenal microvilli of an immunocompromised patient. Such patients are particularly at risk of infection with waterborne parasites -- this patient was coinfected with the microsporidial parasite Enterocytozoon bieneusi.

Adrienne Morey
Staff Specialist in Anatomical Pathology
St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW

©MJA 1999
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