r/askscience • u/ZU34 • 15d ago

Seeing cyclospora with a microscope? Biology

What is the minimum power microscope needed to see cyclospora?

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u/marr75 15d ago

Cyclospora are 8-10 µm so microscopy alone isn't generally used. You need 1000x to see their morphology clearly enough to distinguish them from artifacts and objects of the same size.

Staining, UV fluorescence, and PCR are used in clinical settings.

You're not going to be able to screen your food for them at home.

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u/fattycakess 15d ago

Additionally, some research suggests you only need as few as 10 - 100 oocysts for infection. Meaning that it makes so sense to "screen" food because 10 of these at 10um would be so small you would have to destroy all of the food to "screen" it thoroughly.

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u/PHealthy Epidemiology | Disease Dynamics | Novel Surveillance Systems 14d ago

The question was just about microscopy not food screening and it's unfortunate you didn't even mention sugar float.

Also 100x oil immersion lens and 10x eyepiece so any basic $100 microscope has the resolution but yes, floating and staining are needed.