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Tasiemczyca is a zoonotic disease caused by tapeworms, i.e. internally parasitic flatworms. Tapeworm infection can be very dangerous to humans, but is often relatively easy to treat. Find out about the symptoms of tapeworm disease, the course of the disease and its treatment, and whether you can protect yourself against tapeworm disease.

Tapewormsis a parasitic disease caused by tapeworms, mainly by unarmed tapeworm, armored tapeworm, dwarf tapeworm, broad mite, echinococcosis and flea tapeworm.

Tasiemczyca - causes

Tapeworms are parasites that require an intermediate host, while humans are only their ultimate hosts. Sometimes it happens, albeit very rarely, that a person can also become an intermediate host.

This is what happens when she accidentally eats food or drinks fecal contaminated water with this parasite's eggs. It may also happen that tapeworm eggs, which are already parasitic in the human intestine, pass into the stomach during vomiting. Gastric juice will dissolve their sheaths and secondary tapeworm infection will occur.

Tapeworm infection can be very dangerous for humans, mainly when the larvae penetrate the intestinal mucosa and enter the blood. From there, they travel to the liver, muscles, eyes, and even the brain. The disease is then more difficult to diagnose and more difficult to treat.

Infection with individual parasites:

  • infection with armed tapeworm- occurs as a result of eating meat of a sick pig or wild boar, i.e. with larvae (blackheads). When a person eats only tapeworm eggs, he may develop cysticercosis (cysticercosis). In this case, the larvae develop in various organs, even in the brain.
  • infection with unarmed tapeworm- occurs as a result of eating contaminated beef
  • dwarf tapeworm infection- this is the only representative of tapeworms that does not require an intermediate host and its full development cycle takes place in the intestinal villi and in the lumen of the human small intestine. Infections with this worm are especially popular in warm climates (in Poland, this infection occurs very rarely) in children who stay in large groups (colonies, boarding houses, care centers), wherelittle attention is paid to hygiene. The source of infection may be hands and toys contaminated with faeces.
  • broad-fledgling infection- its intermediate host may be a small freshwater crustacean or a fish. A person becomes infected by eating raw or semi-raw fish with tapeworm larvae.
  • infection with echinococcosis or flea tapeworm- in this case the dog or cat is the ultimate host, and the human is an intermediate. When an animal expels members of the worm that lives in its small intestine, the eggs of the parasite can find their way onto the skin and hair. They are very dangerous to humans. If a person swallows tapeworm eggs, he becomes its intermediate host. Then, the oncosphere in the stomach is released from the egg into the circulation, and with blood to many organs: liver, lungs, muscles, brain, eye, spleen, kidneys.

Once the tapeworm enters the digestive tract of humans, it begins to develop and grow, and after three months it is fully grown. Then its members gradually fall off (you can find them in the stool) and the eggs are released.

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Tasiemczyca - symptoms

First of all, it should be emphasized that tapeworm disease may cause no symptoms for years. The very location of the parasite in the intestine is usually not palpable at all and does not result in serious consequences. Only when the tapeworm develops, multiplies and poisons the human body with its toxins for a long time, disease symptoms begin to appear. They are:

  • feeling weak
  • anemia
  • hyperactivity or apathy, neurological disorders
  • dizziness, headaches
  • stomach pains
  • constipation or diarrhea, lack of appetite
  • losing weight (already in a very advanced stage of the disease)

However, depending on the type of tapeworm, symptoms may vary. The disease also produces different symptoms depending on where the parasite resides. If it lives in the small intestine, it may not give any symptoms for years.

Sometimes only sudden sharp abdominal pain can be a sign of a tapeworm, because it happens that an armed tapeworm, changing the place of the attachment, breaks off and "jumps" further making quick movements with its body, which may cause temporary pain in the host.

Sometimes these are other symptoms related to the digestive system, such as nausea, diarrhea. However, in the case of cysticercosis, when the larvae develop in different organs, the symptoms depend precisely on the location of the larvae.

If we are dealing with cerebral cysticercosis, the symptoms may be suspiciousa brain tumor (epilepsy, severe headache). If the blackhead reaches the retina of the eye, it may lead to blurred vision and eye damage.

Tasiemczyca is more visible in children than in adults. Toddlers become lethargic, weakened faster, they may develop anemia and any intestinal symptoms: abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea. In addition, children develop weight disorders faster, which is also accompanied by a slowdown in growth.

Tasiemczyca - diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosis is made by examining the faeces for the presence of parasite members. It is also helpful to determine the level of eosinophils in the blood - elevated means a possible allergy or parasitic infection. The type of tapeworm can be determined after microscopic examination of its members.

Treatment depends on the type and location of the worm. The intestinal parasitism of adults is eliminated by pharmacological agents which, by paralyzing the nervous system of the parasite, eliminate its adherence to the intestinal wall and thus enable its excretion with faeces outside the body. These are praziquantel, niclosamide, albendazole.

Sometimes, especially in cases where the tapeworm is located in parts of the body other than the intestine, surgical removal of the worm is indicated.

Worth knowing

Interestingly, sometimes a man gets rid of a stowaway spontaneously. This may happen accidentally in another infection with a long-term high fever. Tapeworms work best at a temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius.

Tasiemczyca - preventing tapeworm infection

The most important thing we are able to do is to refrain from eating meat from unreliable sources, undercooked, or even raw and raw fish. Another important thing is to wash your hands after playing with animals. We should also remember not to eat vegetables and fruits "straight from the bush", unwashed, as there is a high probability that they are contaminated with the faeces of an animal that is an intermediate host of the tapeworm.

The larvae die at 56 degrees C. One of the ways to avoid contracting tapeworm disease is thorough cooking of meat.

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Parasitic diseases