Bug bites, animal bites and human bites can all cause problems in histotechnology in one way or another.
Jurecka etal (Am. J. Dermatopath 9(3):204-207, 1987) described instances of wax blocks showing unusual damage especially of the sectioned surface of hyperkeratotic lesions. They found that it was caused by the lava of Anthrenus sp. feeding on the embedded material. Anthrenus species are usually found in birds nests and prefer keratin for nutrition.
I recall an instance of cutting frozen sections of a skin for immunofluorescent staining late one afternoon. After allowing them to dry overnight, I then proceeded to stain them but found that every one of the sections had disappeared from the slides. Were they eaten by some "bug"?
Allison and Whittaker (J. Clin. Pathol 43:600-603, 1990) reported the problems obtaining macroscopic evidence of human bite marks in forensic cases. Routine histochemical methods of showing extravasated red blood cells can be unreliable. Free haemoglobin from bite marks or other forms of blunt trauma, was found to be best shown by the benzidine reaction. Since benzidine is a known carcinogen, would the immunohistochemical demonstration of haemoglobin be more suitable?
Lymphomatoid papulosis is an uncommon cutaneous T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder that, in 10% of patients, may progress to lymphoma. Smoller etal (Mod Pathol 5(5):492, 1992) report that this condition can mimic spider bite reactions both clinically and histologically. In a comparative study, using Ki1 antigen (BerH2) immunohistochemistry, they found that all cases of lymphomatoid papulosis had scattered Ki1 positive large, atypical lymphocytes in the dermis. In the spider bite reactions, there was virtually no staining with the BerH2 antibody.
Tony Henwood JP B.App.Sc., Grad.Dip.Sys.Analys., CT(ASC)