Life cycle Taenia Solium/Saginata

Question 1

What is the classification of Taenia Solium/Saginata?

Answer 1

Helminth in the category cestodes
Solium = pork
Saginata = cattle

Question 2

How is Taenia Solium/Saginata transmitted?

Answer 2

Meat consumption and feces

Question 3

What are the steps of the Taenia Solium/Saginata lifecycle outside of the human host?

Answer 3

1. Eggs or gravid proglottids are passed within the feces of an infected individual. With these eggs being able to survive for days or months in the environment
2. The different species ingest the parasite through vegetation contaminated by eggs or gravid proglottids and become infected. Cattle become infected with T. Saginata and pigs with T. Solium.
3. In the animals intestine the oncosphers hatch invade the intestinal wall and migrate via the bloodstream to the stride and muscles
4. In the stride and muscles they develop into cysticerci. This takes approximately 10 weeks. A cystercerci can survive several years in the animal

Question 4

What are the lifecycle steps of Taenia Solium/Saginata lifecycle in the human host?

Answer 4

5. Humans become infected by digesting raw or undercooked infected meat.
6. The larvae that’s in the vesicle gets released into the human intestine and grows here into a new tape worm in the course of 2 months
7. The adult tapeworm can survive for years at a time and attach to the small intestine through their scolex and reside in the small intestine.
8. The adults produce proglottids that mature become gravid, detach from the tapeworm and migrate to the anus or pass through the stool
9. The cycle continues

Question 5

What type of life cycle does Taenia Solium/Saginata have?

Answer 5

Indirect life cycle

Question 6

What are the definitive host and intermediate host for Taenia Solium/Saginata?

Answer 6

Human: Definitive host

Pig/cattle: intermediate host

Question 7

What are the symptoms of Taenia Solium/Saginata infection?

Answer 7

Often asymptomatic but can cause digestive problems, abdominal pains & loss of appetite. The pork variant (T. solium) can also cause epilepsy. You notice infection with the cattle tapeworm (T. saginata) it because segments of the tapeworm can leaf the body and are found in the bedding or stool. Infection of T. solium cannot be detected this way because it can’t come out.

Question 8

What causes symptoms for just Taenia Solium infection?

Answer 8

If humans ingest eggs of T. solium the human becomes an intermediate host and the blisters form inside the human body instead of the pig. It can also form a bladder worm. Blisters in the muscles or skin don’t cause many symptoms but blisters in the brain can cause meningitis or epilepsy. Cysticerci in the eyes can cause eye inflammation. This depends on the shape size and amount of eggs. Time can vary between weeks to a year. If humans ingest eggs of T. saginata nothing happens as the human cannot be a host for this variant.

Question 9

Where is Taenia Solium/Saginata endemic?

Answer 9

Latin America
Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Parts of Australia

Question 10

How is Taenia Solium/Saginata diagnosed?

Answer 10

Microscopy of stool by looking for eggs or proglottids after 2-3 months since infection. Proglottids can differentiate the different species, eggs can’t.