What do taenia solium eat

Because pigs are intermediate hosts of the parasite, completion of the life cycle occurs in regions where humans live in close contact with pigs and eat undercooked pork. Poor sanitation leading to environmental fecal contamination is a major factor in transmission. Cysticercosis mainly affects low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia e. It is important to note that human cysticercosis is acquired by ingesting T.

The symptoms of cysticercosis vary depending upon the location and number of cysticerci. Cysticerci may develop in skeletal and heart muscle, skin, subcutaneous tissues, the lungs, liver, and other tissues, including the oral mucosa.

In most locations, cysticerci cause few symptoms and spontaneously degenerate. Cysticerci can migrate to the central nervous system and cause neurocysticercosis NCC , which is associated with serious neurological and epileptic manifestations.

Death can occur suddenly. NCC is typically divided into parenchymal and extraparenchymal disease. Parenchymal NCC occurs when cysticerci develop within the brain tissue. Consult an expert for neurocysticercosis; typically corticosteroids are given with antiseizure drugs to patients who have associated seizures or are thought to be at high risk of seizures.

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Symptoms and Signs. Intestinal infection Cysticercosis. Treatment of intestinal infection Treatment of neurocysticercosis. Key Points. Cestodes Tapeworms. Coenurosis Taenia multiceps , Taenia serialis , or Taenia brauni Infection. Test your knowledge. Which of the following sexual acts has the highest risk of causing HIV transmission?

More Content. Click here for Patient Education. Humans ingest raw or undercooked pork containing cysticerci larvae. Detached proglottids, eggs, or both are passed from the definitive host human in feces. Intestinal infection Humans infected with adult T. Cysticerci may also infect the spinal cord, muscles, subcutaneous tissues, and eyes. Microscopic examination of stool for ova and proglottids. To reduce inflammation associated with degenerating cysticerci documented by MRI.

Give praziquantel for intestinal infection. Was This Page Helpful? Yes No. Larva, hatching from the ingested eggs, burrow into the intestinal wall, and after being carried in the circulation, develop into larval cysts cysticerci in the striated muscle of the pig.

Humans become infected by eating the raw or undercooked muscle containing the cysticerci. After ingestion, each of the cysticerci develops into a scolex the head of the tapeworm , which attaches to the mucosa of the small intestine. The tapeworm grows from the scolex by adding segments proglottids , each of which contain many eggs.

Some eggs leak into the stool. Proglottids are periodically passed in the stool; the eggs are released after passage. It takes 2 to 3 months for the tapeworm to grow and start releasing proglottids and eggs in the stool. The tapeworm can live for years.

Mature proglottids are motile and easily visible to the naked eye. The T. However, if the eggs being passed in the stool are ingested by fecal-oral autoinoculation, the larval forms resulting from the eggs hatching can penetrate into the wall of the intestine. They are then carried in the circulation and can develop into cysticerci in muscles, eyes, the central nervous system and elsewhere in the body.

The result is cysticercosis with manifestations that depend on where the larval form develops. These cysticerci may persist for many years without provoking an inflammatory reaction or antibody production. The cysticerci also may degenerate, producing inflammation, or they may become calcified. In addition to fecal-oral autoinoculation — most importantly — the infected carrier of the tapeworm can infect others by fecal contamination of ingested material and cause cysticercosis.

It is important to stress that humans can develop cysticercosis only by ingesting eggs of T. Travelers to these parts of the world can become infected with the tapeworm by eating raw or undercooked pork. In addition, travelers may develop cysticercosis from food contaminated with the feces of an infected food handler. Infection of a person in the U. For example, cases of cysticercosis were reported in Orthodox Jews who strictly avoid porcine products; they became infected by food handlers from Latin America.

In countries where pigs are not raised, T. Similarly, cysticercosis occurs primarily in the countries where T. That being said, at least 2, cases of neurocysticercosis are diagnosed each year in the U. The tapeworm itself usually does not produce symptoms except for the occasional passage of motile proglottids through the anus. This risk depends first on the reported porcine cases after meat inspection, which has a very low sensitivity, especially when pigs have a low infection load.

Therefore, the adjusted prevalence of T. Secondly, the portion prevalence of pork from home slaughter is Thus, home slaughter is a very important risk factor for exposure to T. Finally, exposure to T. The results of the model can be improved if more information about the prevalence among pigs controlled and home slaughtered and consumer behaviour regarding raw meat consumption is acquired. Therefore, it would be useful if European countries develop a better monitoring system for T.

In addition, a comprehensive survey about raw meat consumption would reduce uncertainty in the estimates on the raw consumed portions and give a better perception of cultural differences e.

When these factors become better known, the QMRA model could support the assessment of human exposure to T. Yoshino K. Studies on the postembryonal development of Taenia solium.

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The raw datasets and script used to run the model are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. MM performed the data collection, participated in developing the model and wrote the final manuscript. AvR developed and analysed the questionnaire sent to all European countries. JvdG initiated and supervised the study. All authors were involved in the design of the study and read and approved the final manuscript.