Callie

Hep C? its pretty contagious and its an RNA virus so that might help explain some of the foreign RNA found. Not sure it would cause such a dramatic decline in such a short space of time though.

Hi atomXY I would say that obviously the bottom is not designed for penetration and there are risks associated with that kind of activity. However I would imagine that most people would concede to that point. I am slightly confused as to why this is important though. Humans do all manner of things that they weren't designed for and that can cause them ill health but they still do it, often in the persuit of pleasure. Sexual intercourse is a dirty risky business no matter what way you do it, some practices are more risky than others. Anal sex isn't just for same sex couples either. I haven't read your links but will try to have a read today.

Fungi are tricky beasties! because they are spore formers they pretty much contaminate everything around you. Everything. Even if you did manage to successfully culture Penicillium I honestly don't believe that in a home set up you would be able to stop it getting contaminated with other fungi. Contamination by fungi can be an awful problem even in proper labs with all the proper equipment etc.

Humans and larvae have different immune systems so it's not very useful to compare the two!

Ive got quite an old Pathology text book - Stevens and Lowe, which is useful for a bit of background reading. My book has a similar picture to the one you have linked to titled 'Bronchopneumonia'. Underneath the pic the description states 'the inflammation is centred on bronchi spreads out to cause inflammation in the alveoli, which contain acute inflammatory infiltrate. Consolidation is in the dependant parts of the lung.' Which probably isnt much help to you! but I am a little confused as to exactly what you mean by describing pathology slides.

The main cause of pneumonia is bacterial infection but it can also be viral. Less often pneumonia may occur as a result of inhaling something which may damage the lung tissue (smoke/chemicals)/fungal infection/allergies. When you say you have problems describing histological slides - do you mean the general appearance or identifying the individual elements (cell types/tissue layers etc)?

Im not sure I would believe it possible and even if it was how long would it be until the candida recolonise the body?