Tapeworm infection
| Tapeworm infection | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Beef tapeworm | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | Infectious disease |
| ICD-10 | B67-B71 |
| ICD-9-CM | 122-123 |
| DiseasesDB | 12875 |
| eMedicine | emerg/567 |
| MeSH | D002590 |
Tapeworm infection is the infestation of the digestive tract by a species of parasitic flatworm (known as a cestode), called tapeworms. Live tapeworm larvae grouped in cysts (coenuri)are sometimes ingested by consuming undercooked meat. Once inside the digestive tract, a larva can grow into a very large adult tapeworm. Additionally, many tapeworm larvae cause symptoms in an intermediate host. For example, cysticercosis is a disease involving larval tapeworms in the human body.
Although tapeworms in the intestine usually cause no symptoms, some people experience upper abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.Anemia may develop in people with the fish tapeworm. Infection is generally recognized when the infected person passes segments of proglottids in the stool (which look like white worms), especially if a segment is moving.
Rarely, worms may cause obstruction of the intestine, and very rarely, T. solium larvae can migrate to the brain causing severe headaches, seizures and other neurological problems. Neurocysticercosis can progress for years before the patient displays symptoms.
In at least one case, cancer cells from a tapeworm spread to the human host in an immunocompromised man, producing swelling, obstructions, and other conventional symptoms of human-originated cancer.
Tapeworm eggs are generally ingested through food, water or soil contaminated with human or animal (host) faeces. For example, if a pig is infected with a tapeworm, it may pass eggs or segments (proglottids) of the adult tapeworm through its faeces into soil. Each segment contains thousands of microscopic tapeworm eggs. These eggs can be ingested via food contaminated with the faeces. Once the eggs have been ingested, they develop into larvae, which can migrate out of the intestines and form cysts in other tissues such as the lungs or liver. This type of infection is not common with beef or fish tapeworms, but can occur with the pork tapeworm — called cysticercosis — and can also occur with dog and sheep tapeworms — called echinococcosis.
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