TWiP 225: Wandering worm with Lee Gottesdiener

This Week in Parasitism

Lee Gottesdiener joins TWiP to help solve the case of the 46 Year Old Man with Ongoing Upper Extremity Swelling, and review plant‑based production of a protective vaccine antigen against the bovine parasitic nematode Ostertagia ostertagi.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Daniel Griffin, and Christina Naula

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Links for this episode

• Vaccine against cow parasite (Vert Farm Daily)
• Protective vaccine against bovine parasitic nematode Ostertagia ostertagi
• Hero: Dr. Katy Ewer
• Letters read on TWiP 225

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Case Study for TWiP 225

41-year-old male mechanical engineer, former Army Ranger trainee, moved from Denver, CO to Chattanooga, TN. He was in his usual state of vigorous health, hiking, doing Spartan races, working on his semi-rural property, and commuting to his place of work daily when about three months previous to his diagnosis, he began having episodes of sudden GI distress with diarrhea, followed by itchy hives in axilla and groin. He treated these episodes with Benadryl and got relief. At 10 PM one evening, he had another such episode, again took Benadryl, but began to experience gradual onset but relentlessly increasing shortness of breath and wheezing. He was taken at high speed to the Emergency Room by his wife. He reported that relaxation with a repetitive, meditative prayer seemed to control the symptoms but said it was like his throat was closing.

Past history includes variable exercise and cold-induced asthma treated with an inhaler as a child, with only rare episodes in adulthood related to high exposure to allergens like cat dander. Family history is not contributory. Diet was omnivorous. They had one dog, a labradoodle named Raphael, which they chose because he was “hypoallergenic.”

In the Emergency Department, he was treated with bronchodilators, intramuscular epinephrine, and antihistamines, and the symptoms abated.

The experienced ED physician ordered a diagnostic test, having seen other similar cases in the region. A lifestyle intervention was successful.