Cestodes: Intestinal Tapeworms

Question 1

Taeniasis/Cysticercosis (Taenia solium)

Answer 1

• Taenia Solium = Brain Cysts
• Ingestion of Larvae (Meat) => Gut Tapeworm
• Pernicious anemia
• Mostly asymptomatic
• Humans shed eggs in fecal matter.
• Ingestion of Eggs (Fecal) => Disseminated Cysts to muscle and brain
• Eggs create a massive inflammatory response. “Swiss cheese brain”
• heart arrythmias, infect retina-blindness.

Question 2

Cystic hydatid disease / Echinococcosis (Echinococcus granulosus)

Answer 2

• endemic in sheep, goats, cattle, and sheep dogs
• humans contaminated by dogs: ingest tapeworm eggs spread by dog in human living spaces
• cestode has suckers and hooklets facilitating attachment
• larva penetrate gut wall, enter bloodstream, disseminate into deep organs
• form large (hydatid) cysts containing brood capsules and scolices–lungs and liver.
• cysts can compress intrahepatic bile ducts–obstructive jaundice–cysts: palpable mass upper right quadrant.
• Major complication: cyst rupture and seeing of adjacent tissues–proliferating cyst number and causing pain and fatal allergic reactions (anaphalactic shock)