Hello! Today I'm going to write about- Taenia saginata commonly called a Beef tapeworm.
Remember! It depends on you how many posts like this you will see so please FOLLOW/UPVOTE/COMMENT :) (if you liked my idea).
Let me introduce you a beef tapeworm:
-cosmopolitan (lives everywhere in the world)
- attack target: human small intestine
-can be 4-12 metres long!
His alternate host is a cattle. Larvae live in cattle's muscles, liver, lungs or even in the brain (!).
Okay, but what happens inside cattle's body and how is it possible that humans get sick?
Larva called Oncosphere is going through cattle's digestive system until it gets to the intestines. There the intestinal juice is trying to destroy her but it's not that easy because...she has envelopes that protects her. They are digested and larva is released. Then she's going to the blood and lymphatic vessels- it's like a highway to the muscles where she stays until someone will eat her and develops to cysticercus or bladderworm (they are invasive to humans!)
Humans are definitive hosts of this parasite which means that beef tapeworms copulate inside our body (in intestines just to be clear) . The effect of this process is a production of eggs which are expelled with the feaces. If the cattle has any contact with human faeces it is possible to close the reproduction cycle.
What are the symptoms of taeniasis (illness caused by tapeworms)?
-nausea
-vomit
-irritation, restlessness
-lack of appetite or even increase of appetite (individual matter)
I hope you liked my post :). Do you know anyone who suffered from taeniasis? Write in comments below :)
Source of the pictures: www.cdc.gov /images are in the public domain.