I AM NOT a pathologist. These are pictures I did myself from a smear of one of those little itchy red bumps that sometimes appear where we once had an EM rash.

I have a good quality microscope, some simple tools, and a lifelong interst in the science, but I have nothing that could not be found in a well equipped high school microbiology lab.

Finding Bb with a microscope has been described as too difficult to bother with, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Well...

As I see it one needle in a haystack would be difficult to find. But if there were a thousand needles you should be able to find a few of them, especially if you looked where the needles were dopped into the haystack in the first place.

Considering the limited diagnostic value of the current lab tests, and that the symptoms can be hard to differentiate from other conditions, actually finding the organisms in oneself and photographing them has tremendous weight diagnostically. It is at least personally reassuring as to why one is going through this.

A couple of the photos are very unusual and appear to show Bb emerging from cysts or body cells. (I'll leave the interpretation to the real scientists.)

If anyone knows how I can post these for all to see I would be happy to do so. (I do not have a website I can upload them to that would not disclose too much personal identity information.)

Up for the experts....

You can sign up for a private photo album at http://www.photobucket.com. You then upload the photos you wish to share. Set your preferences to private and add a password. You then share that password and link to your album with those individuals you wish to view the pictures. PB is a free service website.