A farmer's wife develops abdominal pain and diarrhea, followed several days later by fever, periorbital edema, eosinophilia, and myalgia. She does not remember eating anything unusual recently, but notes that she does make her own pork sausage. Which of the following techniques would be most helpful for the diagnosis of this patient?

The patient probably has trichinosis; the diagnosis is confirmed by demonstration of cysts in a muscle biopsy. Trichinosis is an organism that are usually found in pork and can be killed by adequate cooking. The organism is not usually demonstrated in stool or gastric biopsies. The scotch tape test is for Enterobius (pinworms). Ref: Ray C.G., Ryan K.J. (2010). Chapter 54. Tissue Nematodes. In C.G. Ray, K.J. Ryan (Eds), Sherris Medical Microbiology, 5e.