Essay On Tapeworm

Tapeworms and their involvement with humans goes back millions of years with the first identifiable case being in 1853 by Von Siebold. Humans have only recently however discovered there parasites with the first during our short time on earth we have acquired around 300 species of tapeworms (Hoberg). Contrary to popular belief it has been discovered that African hominids caught these parasites through scavenging around two million years ago and they then passed them on to domesticated cattle and pigs.

I chose to do this parasite due to my initial interest in seeing the removal of one of these worms. Seeing a live tape worm being drawn out of a body slowly is incredible fascinating. It is also a very tense situation because if the worm rips it can exponentially complicate the procedure and may even lead to death. This method is no longer used however and people simply take medication and the worm can then pass through their system. Although even today rural

areas without access to medication remove tapeworms through the conventional method of slowly removing it by twirling it around a stick. This is an extremely interesting event because we have a medical complication that is large enough to be accessed and removed by hand.
Tapeworms are a species of the Cestoda, a class of parasitic flatworms. These parasitic species live inside their host and can be acquired through eating of uncooked meat such as beef, fish or pork. The disease caused by tapeworms is known as Cestodiasis. There is a large diversity in the tapeworm anatomy with them containing various hooks, folds, fangs, and creases to latch onto the host. These worms can grow up to one hundred feet in length and can be difficult to remove (WHO). While they are parasitic, they only use humans as final hosts. Many intermediate hosts can exist such as dogs, swine, or cattle. After being ingested, the larva bore through the intestinal wall and into a blood vessels. They are then carried to the muscle tissue where they form a protective capsule that they preside in until they turn into cysticercus or commonly known as bladder worms.
The tapeworm’s anatomy contains a head, neck and body. The head is referred to as the Scolex which is the most distinctive part of the worm and can be used to identify its species. It contains bothria or “sucking grooves” that are used at suction cup to adhere to the hosts’ tissue (Kimball). The neck it then there to connect the Scolex and the Strobila, the body. The Strobila is composed of segments or proglottids. Each segment of the proglottids is distinct and perform specific functions. The immature proglottids are closest to the neck and contain reproductive organs. The Mature proglottids is the middle part and it houses both female and male reproductive organs that produces eggs. The gravid proglottids are in the posterior part and are the longest in width and contain the female reproductive organs. It has been suggested that the tapeworm is not a single organism, but rather a colony of proglottids.
Approximately fifty million people worldwide are estimated to have been infected by tapeworms.

These estimations however may be low due to the prevalence of this parasite in third world regions with less concise data on causes of death. Furthermore fifty percent of the reported cases are also from low to lower middle income countries. The symptoms for this include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and constipation within eight weeks of ingestion of larva. Unless treated the tapeworm can reside in the host for many years. Tapeworms can be treated in a variety of ways, the most common seems to be medication for early cases that can then simply flush the parasite out of the system. For more advanced cases the tape worm has to be removed surgically (Wang). In some third world countries without our current access to advanced medicine the worm tail is attached to a stick and slowly twirled to remove the worm and not rip it. Cutting the worm will cause its body to recede into the body and result in severe

infection.