The armed tapeworm belongs to flatworms, i.e. flat worms. It is one of the most popular human parasites, though it owes this notoriety to its replicated myths rather than its actual virulence. Undoubtedly, tapeworm infection is a serious matter, but… so rare that - in a civilized world - it is almost unreal. Learn about the life cycle of an armed tapeworm and how an armed tapeworm can become a human parasite.
Armed tapeworm( Taenia solium ), otherwisesoliter , sometimes it is long 4 meters long, a ribbon-like worm known as a human parasite. It is distinguished from the unarmed tapeworm by the fact that it has suction cups and hooks on its head with which it is attached to the walls of the host's small intestine. His body consists of 800-1000 so-called. proglotide, i.e. the same members, each of them having both female and male reproductive organs (it is bisexual) and produces about 100,000. eggs. Proglotides reproduce among themselves in different ways. Fertilization can take place between members of two different tapeworms, and this is the best solution for mixing genetic material. However, this is an extremely rare situation, because the tapeworm usually lives in the host alone (solitary - solitary). Most often, fertilization takes place within one worm, when two parts that are distant from each other are joined. Self-fertilization also happens within one proglotide.
Interestingly, the tapeworm does not have a digestive system, and its food is absorbed by the surface of the whole body covered with a cuticle. There are also no sense organs, but a simple nervous system which consists of the ganglia within the head and two main nerve trunks running through all the limbs. Exhaust channels also extend along the edges of the members, which open on the last member into a vesicular reservoir from which there is an outlet to the outside. Due to the fact that the armed tapeworm breathes anaerobically, it is perfectly adapted to parasitism.
Development cycle of armed tapeworm
The development cycle of the armed tapeworm, similarly to the unarmed tapeworm, is very complicated. Namely, it is a parasite that requires an intermediate host andfinal. The indirect host of the armed tapeworm is the domestic pig or wild boar (unarmed - cow). The ultimate host is man (or some predator).
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The armed tapeworm development cycle begins when the pig eats the parasite eggs previously excreted in the faeces of the final host. In the pig's body, a larva (oncosphere) comes out of the egg. It pierces the walls of the intestine, then travels through the capillary system and settles in the connective tissue of the striated muscles. Most often - in the muscles of the tongue and neck. There it settles and encapsulates - it takes the form of a blackhead. Wągier is in the form of a fluid-filled bubble containing a tapeworm head. In the pig system, blackhead matures for about 3-4 months and reaches the size of a bean grain (15 mm long, 8 mm wide). The reaction of the blackhead host is limited to surrounding the tapeworm larva with connective tissue.
When a person eats such meat - undercooked, undercooked or even in the form of tartare - the blackhead gets into his digestive system, the shell dissolves under the influence of digestive juices, the head comes out, sticks to the intestinal wall and begins to produce members, and these - eggs. Eggs, along with feces, leave the human body and the cycle may repeat itself.
At this point, it should be emphasized that eating contaminated pig meat is actually the only way for a person to contract tapeworm disease (cysticercosis, cysticercosis), i.e. contracted tapeworm infection.
It is, however, extremely difficult. For this to happen, you have to eat unexplained meat of unknown origin. - After slaughter, pigs and cattle are subject to mandatory inspection by veterinarians. There are special procedures for testing meat for cysticercosis, meat infected with blackheads is eliminated, it cannot be marketed, we will not find it in stores. A veterinarian who admits meat with cysticercosis on the market is subject to criminal liability - writes on the website of his laboratory (laboratorfelix.com), Dr. med. Vet. Marta Bogdanowicz-Kamirska.
On the other hand, Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski from the Institute of Infection Prevention in Warsaw for Wybcza.pl, argues that, yes, people often fall victim to parasitic infections, but it is more about lice, pinworms, lamella and human roundworm, but not about tapeworms: - You really have to try to get the tapeworm infection. You have to eat its "live" parts. Tapeworm disease is rare. And it does not result in sudden weight loss. It's a myth. You can have a tapeworm and be quite boned. Although, of course, with a strong infestation, a person visibly loses weight.
Myths revolve aroundtapeworm
One of the most common myths about catching a tapeworm is the symptom of rapid weight loss. Meanwhile: - In a true tapeworm, the symptom of weight loss does not occur, it is not mentioned at all in textbooks - writes Dr. Bogdanowicz-Kamirska. Dr. Grzesiowski adds that weight loss is visible only with really strong worming. The symptoms of this disease are:
- digestive disorders
- stomach pains
- lack of appetite or - on the contrary, wolf hunger
- headaches
- nausea
- bounce
- nervous system disorders
However, before all these symptoms appear, it may take several years. Another interesting fact worth commenting on are capsules with tapeworm eggs, which can be purchased, of course, illegally, as a means of slimming. According to Dr. Bogdanowicz-Kamirska, it is not really known what is in these capsules. But to infect a person with a tapeworm, there would have to be live larvae in a piece of fresh meat, which is unlikely to be possible.