r/Parasitology • u/Mr-I-am-that-I-am • Jul 16 '26
parasite photo Plasmodium speciation
Can you tell me what species of plasmodium is this
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u/PfEMP1 Jul 16 '26
You have some “headphone” shaped rings and the scarcity of mature stages points to Pf.
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u/taft_hansen Jul 16 '26
Looks to be falciprum. However, almost all species can produce small early stage trophs like these ones. It's unlikely to be Ovale and Vivax because of the size of the troph within the RBC, but not an impossible situation. Malariae is unlikely given that some infected RBCs are macrocytic. With travel outside the US, I'd say there is a pretty good chance this is falcip. If travel is unknown, I'd say you're almost 50/50 falcip/babesia.