Pete Dixon

I'm still trying my hand at hookworm incubation. This time I set 5 jars going all using the same method, namely small, hermetically sealable jars stuffed with a coffee filter smeared with a small amount of egg infected stool (mine) with about a 1/2 cm of mineral water at the base and left for 9 days. I made sure the filter paper always touched the water and that the stool was moistened well before smearing. To the best of my knowledge, I prepared each jar in exactly the same way. I even weighed the amount of water I used for the jars (27g each).

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This time when I put samples under the microscope, four of the jars were barren, and one was an absolute 'A', a single drop from the jar having at least the 25 larvae I usually inoculate with.

I'll keep trying, but right now the theory that this is all about the egg deposition in the stool by the hookworm females appears to hold. If the stool sample hits a vein of deposited eggs, that jar will be successful, otherwise you'll get squat. I inoculate with 25 larvae. When people start out, they use considerably less, suggesting that their incubations will be less successful because there would be fewer hookworms laying eggs in the gut.

It is possible that there is some minor finesse causing jars to fail. Next time, I'll do my absolute best to make sure the jars are prepared as identically as possible.

My celiac disease and ulcerative colitis remain happily in remission, with my next inoculation due mid-January. The only recent weirdness is a new reactivity to mayo. I can eat eggs just fine, and I use oil in cooking, so what's up with that? According to Google (Healthline) - "Although the most common allergen in mayonnaise in egg, it's possible in rare cases to be allergic to some of the other ingredients, including: soybean oil, due to a soy allergy, especially if it's expeller pressed or cold pressed. lemon juice, due to a citrus allergy. vinegar, due to a sulfite allergy."