There are basically three varieties of tapeworm. Theses are beef tapeworm, such as (Taenia saginata), pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) and fish tapeworm (Dphyllobothrium latum). Tapeworms are generally found in the intestines of various animals and humans. |
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A typical tapeworm can grow up to fifteen to thirty feet in length. The portion of the egg bearing section known as proglottids is released in the stool. These eggs present in the stool of humans, when left untreated, are accidentally ingested by transitional hosts like cattle and pigs. While in fish, it is ingested as tiny crustaceans. The egg which enters in these transitional hosts hatches itself into a larva and grows within the intestines of these hosts. These larvae further travel all along the bloodstream and target the skeletal muscles and subsequently other tissues of the body. The larvae have the tendency of forming cysts. These cysts grow into adult and attach themselves to the intestinal walls. The adults lay eggs and are released through the stool. Thus, the cycle carries on from egg to larvae and then cyst to adult and then again egg.
The pork tapeworm can be ingested through food or water that is contaminated due to human feces. The eggs can also be transferred to the mouths via direct contact with an infected person, or through clothes and furniture that are contaminated. Just in animal transitional hosts, the eggs grow into larvae. The larvae infiltrate the intestinal wall and migrate to the brain, muscles, other organs, or tissues beneath the skin. There they convert into cysts (cysticerci). This type of disease in people is called cysticercosis.
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