Taenia solium
Taenia solium, also called the pork tapeworm, is a cyclophyllid cestode in the family Taeniidae. It infects pigs and humans in Asia], Africa, the Philippenes, Latin America, and pockets of North America. Like all cyclophyllid cestodes, T. solium has four suckers on its scolex ("head"). T. solium also has two rows of hooks. T. solium has a very similar life cycle to Taenia saginata, the "beef tapeworm," with a few differences. Though humans usually serve as an definitive host, eating infected meat, fostering adult tapeworms in the intestine, and passing eggs through feces, sometimes a cysticercus (a larva sometimes called a "bladder worm") develops in the human and the human acts like an intermediate host. This happens if eggs get to the stomach, usually as a result of vomiting. Cysticerci often occur in the central nervous system, which can cause major neurological problems like epilepsy and even death. The condition of having cycsticerci in one's body is called Cysticercosis, and is discussed in its own article.
Eggs can be diagnosed only to the family (biology) level, but if a proglottid's uterus is stained with India ink, the number of visible uterine branches can help identify the species: unlike the Taenia saginata uteri, T. solium uteri have only five to ten uterine branches on each side.
Infection with T. solium adults is treated with niclosamide, which is one of the most popular drugs for adult tapeworm infections, as well as for fluke infections. As cysticercosis is a major risk, it is important to suppress vomiting if a patient may be infected with T. solium. Infection may be prevented with proper disposal of human feces around pigs, cooking meat thoroughly, and/or freezing the meat at -10oC for 5 days.
See also
Genus Taenia
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