infections
Tapeworm Infection
Introduction
Tapeworm infection of the intestine occurs mainly when people eat raw or undercooked contaminated pork, beef, or freshwater fish or, for the dwarf tapeworm, contaminated food or water. Adult tapeworms, which live in people's intestine, usually cause no symptoms, but they may cause abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and weight loss. The pork tapeworm can also form cysts in the brain and elsewhere in the body (called Cysticercosis ). Cysts in the brain can cause various symptoms, such as headaches, seizures, confusion, and sometimes severe, life-threatening disease. Doctors diagnose intestinal tapeworm infection by finding worm segments or eggs in a stool sample, and they diagnose cysticercosis by identifying cysts elsewhere in the body by doing imaging or blood tests. Antiparasitic medications such aspraziquantelmay be used to treat infection in the intestine, andalbendazoleand/orpraziquantelplus corticosteroids may be used to relieve symptoms caused by cysts in the brain. Thoroughly cooking pork, beef, and freshwater fish can help prevent the infection. (See also Overview of Parasitic Infections .) Several species of tapeworms can cause infection in people. They include Taenia saginata(beef tapeworm) Taenia solium(pork tapeworm) Taenia asiatica,which is acquired by eating pork in Asia (Asian tapeworm) Diphyllobothrium latum(fish tapeworm) Hymenolepis nana(dwarf tapeworm) ( Echinococcosis (Dog Tapeworm Infection) )—live in the intestine of dogs or other canines. These tapeworms sometimes infect people, causing cysts in the liver or other organs. Tapeworms have three main parts: The head, which is the part that attaches to intestine The neck, which can regenerate The rest of the worm, which consists of many segments (called proglottids) and which may contain eggs If treatment does not eliminate the head and neck, the entire worm may re-form. 