Helminth

●Pltyhelminths:
Cestodes (tapeworm):
T. saginata, T. solium, E.
granulosus.
Trematodes (flukes) :
Blood flukes
Tissue flukes.
● Nematodes (round worms)
Cestode (Tape
worm)

Mejbah Uddin
Ahmed
 Cestode
General characters:
1. Majority are long, segmented, tape like.
2. Few millimeters to several meters.
3. Head provided with suckers, sometimes
hooks.
4. Sexes not separated.
 Cestod
e
Cestodes infecting man:
Diphyloborthrium latum,
T. saginata,
T. solium,
E. granulosus.
Sparganum mansoni,
Sparganum proliferum.
 Cestode
Terms used in Tapeworm (Cestodes):

Strobila: The body or trunk of the adult

worm.

Scolex: Commonly called head, carries

suckers.
Neck: The growth region behind the head.
 Cestode
 Terms used in Tapeworm
(Cestodes):
 Oncosphere: Six-hooked embryo
inside the egg.
 Cysticercus: Resting stage of the
larva in the intermediate host, where it
develops into a bladder form.
Taenia saginata
&
Taenia solium
 Taenia

•T.saginata is commonly known as beef

tapeworm and T. solium as pork
tapeworm.
Reservoir: 
In addition to humans, T. saginata persists
and has developmental stages in the cow
and T. solium in pig.
T. saginata and T. solium: Scolex And
Proglottids
 Taenia
T. saginata T. solium

Length 5-10 meters 2-3 meters

Head Large, quadrate, Small, globular,

no hooks with sucker and
hooks
Proglottides: 1000-2000 Below 1000
Number
Uterus 15-30,lateral 5-10, lateral
branches branches
Vagina Sphincter Sphincter
present absent
 

cow
 

pig
 Taenia
Life cycle: 
The life cycles of T. saginata and T.
solium are very similar. 
Life cycle differences include possible
autoinfection in T. solium and the
different intermediate hosts for each
parasite.
 
 Taenia
T. saginata:
Definitive host: Human.
Intermediate host: Cow
T. solium:
Definitive host: Human.
Intermediate host: Pig (Sometimes
humans are accidental intermediate
host).
Transmission  
Ingestion of under-cooked beef (T.
 Taenia
Auto-infection route:
Sometimes human may ingest the eggs
found in its feces. In this case cysticerci
may develop throughout the body, but
particularly the brain as there is an
affinity for the brain. Neurocysticercosis
may result.
 Taenia
Steps of life cycle: 
Humans infected by ingesting
undercooked larval cyst containing meat

Larva escapes and passes to the small
intestine & attaches to the mucosa by
scolex and suckers

Then cysticercus develops into an adult
tapeworm,
 Cestode
The adult tapeworms reside in the small
intestine

Cattle and pigs become infected by
ingesting vegetation contaminated with
eggs or gravid proglottids.

In the animal's intestine, oncospheres
hatch & invade the intestinal wall &
migrate to the striated muscles & develop
 Taenia
 Clinical Presentation:
People infected with adult Taenia often
are asymptomatic. Sometimes nausea,
intestinal upset, hunger pains, diarrhea
and/or constipation, or chronic
indigestion may occur.  
 Taeni
a
 Cystercercosis: Severe form of
Taeniasis, can occur upon ingestion of
T. solium eggs found in the feces of
infected humans.  Eggs hatch in the
small intestine and migrate to various
tissues (lung, liver, eye and brain) &
form cysts, resulting in blindness and
neurological disorders. T. saginata
rarely causes cystecercosis.
 Taenia
 Laboratory Diagnosis:
Microscopic identification of eggs and
proglottids in feces is diagnostic for Taeniasis.
Microscopic identification of gravid proglottids
allows species determination.
 Antibody detection: Cysticercosis can be
diagnosed by antibody detection.