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http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2019.57.6.621

Confusing a Pollen Grain with a Parasite Egg: an Appraisal of "Paleoparasitological Evidence of Pinworm (Enterobius Vermicularis) Infection in a Female Adolescent Residing in Ancient Tehran"  

Camacho, Morgana (Escola Nacional de Saude Publica Sergio Arouca, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz)
Reinhard, Karl J. (School of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska)
Publication Information
Parasites, Hosts and Diseases / v.57, no.6, 2019 , pp. 621-625 More about this Journal
Abstract
There is often the risk of confusing pollen grains with helminth eggs from archaeological sites. Thousands to millions of pollen grains can be recovered from archaeological burial sediments that represent past ritual, medication and environment. Some pollen grain types can be similar to parasite eggs. Such a confusion is represented by the diagnosis of enterobiasis in ancient Iran. The authors of this study confused a joint-pine (Ephedra spp.) pollen grain with a pinworm egg. This paper describes the specific Ephedra pollen morphology that can be confused with pinworm eggs.
Keywords
Ephedra; Enterobius egg; palynology; pollen; pinworm; archaeology;
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