To the editor:
Oops! Someone pulled out the wrong slide. The image inside the cover of the spring 2000 issue of Yale Medicine is clearly that of a parasite belonging to the genus Trypanosoma, rather than Plasmodium. My guess is that it is either T. brucei gambiense or T. brucei rhodesiense, the causes of West African and East African trypanosomiasis respectively, although it could be Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. In any event, it’s not the cause of malaria as stated in the caption.
Louis V. Kirchhoff, M.D. ’77, M.P.H. ’77
Iowa City, Iowa
Thanks to Dr. Kirchhoff for spotting the error. The image in question shows not a malaria-causing agent, but a member of the Trypanosoma genus. T. Brucei brucei, which is carried by tsetse flies and causes sleeping sickness.
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