It's been too long since I posted.

My goal of posting all of my life cycles before the sophomores' parasitology final was not met, but perhaps I'll accomplish my next goal: post all my life cycles before the current freshmen take the parasitology final next fall. Lofty, I know, but with your support, I can achieve anything.

To make up for my laziness, I'm going to post one of my favorite life cycles (Paralaphystrongylus tenuis) followed by my newest life cycle, which I doodled for a lab animal medicine project that my group recently ACED: Aspicularis tetraptera. :) My brother inspired me to post Paralaphystrongylus when he showed me this crazy Cordyceps fungus video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8

Surprisingly, the only entomology we get in vet school is actually just parasitology. Call an entomologist if your tarantula ain't doin' right--your vet probably won't know what to do if you're opposed to treating him smartly with the bottom of your shoe.

On to the doodles!

T-Shirt Tangent

This has absolutely nothing to do with parasitology, but I'm avoiding studying radiology, so here's my most recent T-shirt design. I'd like to thank Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Andrew, and my unicorn-adoring class for the inspiration. :)

I'll get back to posting parasite life cycles after the radiology exam! :)

This is T-shirt another design Erik and Elizabeth helped me create. :)

Whipworms

Here's another one for Dr. Reeves. :)

Strongyloides

Yes, Dr. Reeves, we did study Strongyloides. :) I guess I should've used pigs instead of cattle.

Heartworms!

I heard second years are starting heartworms today. This simple picture does not outline the complexity of the heartworm infection... the rest of my heartworm study guide was a page and a half of just notes. Think about whether you would test a blood donor dog for heartworms before performing a blood transfusion. :)

Oxyuris and Dracunculus

Double parasites Monday!

This is the second life cycle I drew. It was more fun than the ascarid life cycle because I had a chance to give the victim a little personality (she's a cribber).

On to the FIERY SERPENT:

I don't think this life cycle does Dracunculus justice--it's way more exciting than I made it look. Firstly, it infects humans, too, and it's in the Bible! It's close to being eradicated, which I think is a big deal because that snakey thing on the stick in the medicine symbol is not a snake--it's Dracunculus. To treat this, you don't use dewormers. You have to pull this terrible creature out when it emerges from the patient's foot by wrapping it around a small stick, but you can't wrap more than a couple inches per day or it'll break and the rest of the thing will stay stuck in your patient. Bad nooz.

Dictyocaulus arnfieldi

I like that parasitology isn't one of those classes that you spend hours working on just to forget because it's not applicable to clinical medicine. My pathology group is writing an assignment on Dictyocaulus arnfieldi in horses for our lesson on respiratory pathology. It's really quite handy to have these mini study guides to review the pathogenesis and infectious stages for things like this.

Stomach worms!

Life is cumulative! I know the second years started Parasitology today, and the third years were reminded of the role of Physaloptera and roundworms in gastric disease in Small Animal Digestive. Oxyurids and Dracunculus are coming soon!

How to Study Parasitology - for Visual Learners

I suppose it's logical to include the very first life cycle I ever drew in the very first post I ever make, though I am rather embarrassed to post this ascarid life cycle at all. I thought about re-doing it for the sake of my reputation, but I decided to be lazy and allow my future posts to make up for the crumminess of this illustration.

How a Life Cycle is Born.

Instead of endlessly repeating infection details aloud to my horrified pets like usual, I decided to study by drawing out the parasite life cycles. I added some essential textual information and emailed the life cycle doodles/study-guides to my classmates on the off chance that one of them may benefit from the visual representation. I was surprised by the positive feedback I received. Eventually, our professor got wind of these doodles and requested that he use them in his presentations in the fall. Later, my Haemonchus contortus life cycle received the honor of being posted in the SAVMA Vet Gazette.

Disclaimer

So I'm making this blog 1) to disperse my awesome life-cycle-study-companions beyond the limits of my college, and 2) to prove the I am indeed the creator of the Parrsquini Life Cycles. (That is, if any of you punks try to steal my life cycles and pass them off as your own, may the blinding pain of the Fiery Serpent paralyze your distal appendages!)

Acknowledgments

Whether he knows it or not, Dr. Moorhead inspired me to spend a little more time on parasitology than on my other classes. He did a great job of piquing everyone's interest in parasitology. Thanks for being one of the (two) most energetic and inspiring professors of second year, Dr. Moorhead!