PPT Slide
Beef Tapeworm, Taeniarhynchus saginatus
- Definitive host humans; intermediate host cattle
- Eggs are shed with human feces; infected persons defecate in a pasture and the eggs are ingested by cattle
- Eggs hatch giving rise to oncosphere larvae that bore into the intestinal wall and get into the circulatory system to be transported to muscle
- Here the larvae develop into the cysticercus stage (=the bladder worm) with the inverted scolex
- If uncooked beef is consumed the cysticercus is freed and the scolex everts, forming the adult
- Symptoms include loss of weight, chronic indigestion, diarrhea