Taenia saginata

Beef tapeworm ( Taenia saginata )

The beef tapeworm Taenia saginata, also known as bovine tapeworm is a parasitic tapeworm living in the intestine of man. As an intermediate host serve beef.

Dissemination

The beef tapeworm is spread by cattle breeding worldwide, comes today but mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and those of the Middle East before. A particularly strong prevalence prevails in Kenya, where in a 1996 study, a strong regional fluctuating cysticercosis in 15-80 % of cattle was found.

Humans are the only definitive host.

Features

The body of the beef tapeworm bears all the typical characteristics of tapeworms, it reaches a length up to 10 meters and a width up to 7 mm. A special feature of the bovine tapeworm is the lack of hooks wreaths as an adhesive organ on the scolex ( head).

Life cycle

The life cycle of the beef tapeworm includes like all tapeworms a Finn stage ( Cysticercus bovis Cysticercus inermis or ), this is to be found in cattle ( cysticercosis ). The human definitive hosts deposited per day consist of up to nine proglottids, this scatter through active creep the eggs over long distances. The eggs are taken from cattle, where they settle mainly in the muscles of the diaphragm, tongue and heart. The Finns now remain in the beef and, if they are not discovered at a legally required in most countries, meat inspection by the veterinarian, ingested by humans. A worm infection, however, occurs only when the meat is inadequately cooked or eaten raw.

Disease

The infection often has no symptoms occur infrequently headache, mild abdominal pain, feeling hungry or changing appetite and malaise. The only symptom may be a weight loss. In human stool which is about 1 cm long and 0.7 cm wide, whitish proglottids can be found. In cattle, even the Finns do not cause any symptoms.

Prevention

By cooking or frying of beef before consumption, infection can be avoided. To kill the cysticerci ( fins), a temperature of 65 degrees Celsius must be achieved in the meat for at least five minutes. A freezing for nine days at minus ten degrees Celsius causes killing of the cysticerci. In Europe, up to 1.5 percent of cattle are infected. Untreated sewage entering into rivers, "wild toilets " near pastures and the direct transfer of eggs from human to cattle on farms are sources of infection.

Therapy

Infestation in the human intestine by the bovine tapeworm, a single dose of praziquantel (10 mg / kg body weight) is effective.