Tapeworm infections due to T. solium are more prevalent in under-developed communities with poor sanitation and where people eat raw or undercooked pork.
Tapeworm infection is caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs or larvae. If you ingest certain tapeworm eggs, they can migrate outside your intestines and form larval cysts in body tissues and organs (invasive infection).
Human taeniasis is a parasitic infection caused by three tapeworm species, T. saginata (known as the beef tapeworm), T. solium (pork tapeworm), and T. asiatica (the Asian tapeworm).
The most common worm in Australian children is the threadworm, Enterobius vermicularis, sometimes called the pinworm. Infection with other worms such as roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms is less common. Threadworms are small, white, thread-like worms 2 to 13 mm long.
You can be infected with tapeworm larvae by eating raw or undercooked meat, such as beef, pork, or fish. You can consume tapeworm eggs in infected water or by accidentally coming into contact with dog faeces, for example by handling an object, food or water that has been contaminated.
Treatment for tapeworms in humans
Sometimes, the tapeworm leaves the body on its own. This is why some people never have symptoms or only have mild symptoms. If a tapeworm doesn't leave your body, your doctor will recommend a treatment based on the type of infection.
Don't Worry, They're Rare
If the thought of tapeworms makes you squirm, take heart. You probably won't ever get one. Less than 1,000 people in the U.S. get them a year.
If you have a tapeworm infection, you may not have any symptoms. But some people have nausea, stomach pain, weakness, or diarrhea. You might notice a change in appetite (eating more or less than usual). And since the tapeworm keeps your body from absorbing nutrients from food, you may lose weight.
Tapeworm infections are rare in the United States. When they do happen, they're easy to treat. Often, people may not know they have a tapeworm infection because they have no symptoms or their symptoms are mild.
Both the tapeworm infection, also known as taeniasis, and cysticercosis occur globally. The highest rates of infection are found in areas of Latin America, Asia, and Africa that have poor sanitation and free-ranging pigs that have access to human feces.
Humans get the tapeworm infection after eating raw or undercooked pork contaminated with cysts of T. solium. When swallowed the cysts pass through the stomach and attach to the lining of the small intestine. In the small intestine the cysts develop into adult tapeworms over about two months.
People who live in close proximity to livestock or free-range animals and/or have poor sanitation have a greater risk of developing a tapeworm infection. Tapeworm infections are more common in developing areas of the world where sanitation is poor and people may eat undercooked meats.
Humans become infected by eating raw or undercooked infected beef or pork. Once ingested, cysticerci attach to the small intestine and develop into adult tapeworms over the course of 2 months. The adult tapeworms produce proglottids that mature, detach, and migrate to the anus and are then passed in the feces.
Many times, people can be infected for long periods of time without even knowing they have a tapeworm infection. While viral or bacterial infections can disappear in a matter of days or weeks, a tapeworm could be with you for years.
You can easily kill tapeworms with anthelmintic drugs, including praziquantel (Biltricide®), albendazole (Albenza®) and nitazoxanide (Alinia®). Healthcare providers usually recommend praziquantel because it also paralyzes the worm, forcing it to dislodge from your intestinal wall.
Diagnosis for tapeworm infection is usually done through detection of eggs and proglottids (worm segments) via a stool test, although many patients' tapeworms are detected when they find proglottids in their own stool or in the toilet.
As disgusting as tapeworms are, the vast majority of them are not contagious to people and do not cause any significant problems to cats.
People typically get a tapeworm infection by eating meat that is raw or has been undercooked. A pinworm infection is more common, particularly in children.
Another less common group of tapeworms called Echinococcus is of increasing concern as a threat to human health. These tapeworms cause serious, potentially fatal disease when humans become infected.
Coconut is the most effective home remedy to treat intestinal worms. Consume a tbsp of crushed coconut in your breakfast. After 3 hours, drink about one glass of lukewarm milk mixed with 2 tbsps of castor oil. Drink this for a week to get rid of all types of intestinal worms.
Eat more raw garlic, pumpkin seeds, pomegranates, beets, and carrots, all of which have been used traditionally to kill parasites. In one study, researchers found that a mixture of honey and papaya seeds cleared stools of parasites in 23 out of 30 subjects. Drink a lot of water to help flush out your system.
The reason: cultivation of vegetables and crops in sewage water which contains human faeces infected by the pork tapeworm. "In our country, there seems to be a high incidence among vegetarians since crops are cultivated in sewage water and consumed without proper cleaning.
Parasitic infections can be spread in a number of ways. For example, protozoa and helminths can be spread through contaminated water, food, waste, soil, and blood. Some can be passed through sexual contact. Some parasites are spread by insects that act as a vector, or carrier, of the disease.