The pig tapeworm, or armed tapeworm, is a tapeworm that parasitizes the human small intestine .
Content
The structure of the pork tapeworm
The parasite is white in color, the body length is usually 2-3 meters, but can reach 7-8 meters.
The head, 2-3 mm in size, has 4 suckers above which rises a proboscis, armed with a rim of hooks. With the help of suction cups and hooks, the worm attaches to the intestinal wall. Behind the head there is a neck 1 cm long and the body itself (strobila), consisting of a large number of segments (about 900).
The pork tapeworm is a hermaphrodite; its segments contain both male and female reproductive organs. Fertilization of eggs occurs inside the segments. Mature segments detach from the strobila (body) several at a time and are excreted in the feces.
How does a worm develop?
The only host of pork tapeworm is humans. The separated segments are excreted in human feces. The eggs located in the segments contain a formed larva that does not need to mature in the external environment.
If they again enter the human body, then infection with larvae occurs, which leads to the disease - cysticercosis.
Intermediate hosts, most often domestic pigs, ingest segments and larvae (oncospheres) with food and water.
In the intestine of the intermediate host, oncospheres, with the help of their hooks, penetrate through the intestinal wall into the blood and spread throughout the body.
More often they settle in the intermuscular connective tissue, where within 60-70 days after infection they form vesicular cysticerci with a diameter of 5-8 mm, and in the liver up to 1 cm.
Cysticerci are whitish in color, filled with fluid, and contain the head and neck of the parasite inside.
The lifespan of cysticerci in a pig is 3-6 years.
Routes of infection
A person becomes infected with cysticercus by eating undercooked or undercooked meat.
In the duodenum, the heads of the worms are everted from the vesicles under the influence of bile and digestive enzymes. Introducing hooks into the intestinal wall, they attach to it and the formation of the body of the worm (strobili) begins.
The worm reaches sexual maturity 2-3 months after infection and at this time segments filled with mature eggs begin to separate.
Pork tapeworm lives in the human intestine for several years.
Taeniasis
The presence of pork tapeworm in the human intestine leads to a disease called taeniasis.
Human susceptibility to this disease is high.
Signs of pork tapeworm infection
There are no symptoms unique to this disease.
The main clinical symptoms of taeniasis:
- loss of appetite,
- stomach ache,
- nausea,
- vomit,
- unstable chair,
- headaches, dizziness,
- sleep disturbance,
- sometimes seizures similar to epilepsy.
Symptoms in children are no different from those in adults.
Unlike the bovine tapeworm, the segments of the parasite do not actively emerge from the anus and humans do not notice them.
How is pork tapeworm detected?
Stool examination is diagnostically valuable. Mature segments are found in the patient's feces. Unlike the segments of the bovine tapeworm, they are motionless.
Stool analysis should be done multiple times, since segments are not always found in them.
Treatment
Since with taeniasis there is a risk of infection with larvae and the development of cysticercosis, it is treated in a hospital.
Treatment is exactly the same as for infection with bovine tapeworm. Read about this in this article .
Additionally, it is recommended to take antiemetic drugs, since it is during vomiting that there is a high probability of infecting the patient and the people around him with cysticercosis.
Prevention
The effectiveness of treatment should be monitored after 1-3 months.
You should buy meat that has passed sanitary and veterinary control.
It is necessary to eat well-cooked meat.
Cysticercosis
This disease occurs when a person is infected with pork tapeworm larvae (cysticerci).
Routes of infection
A person can get cysticercosis by infecting themselves. This most often occurs when a person infected with pork tapeworm vomits. At the same time, the vomit contains oncospheres, which the patient can swallow.
Once in the stomach and intestines, oncospheres penetrate the capillaries and spread with the blood throughout the body. After 2 months they turn into cysticerci (larvae).
Cysticerci damage the tissues surrounding them, the waste products they secrete poison the body and cause allergies. A fibrous capsule forms around the larva. The parasites die after 4-5 years and are destroyed, poisoning the body even more.
Symptoms of cysticercosis
When cysticerci disintegrate, the body reacts with the following symptoms:
- low-grade fever,
- severe allergic reactions,
- an increase in eosinophils and leukocytes in peripheral blood,
- increase in ESR.
The capsule around the parasite becomes denser and the tissue around it dies.
Other symptoms depend on the tissues and organs in which cysticerci parasitize.
When the brain is damaged, the main symptoms are:
- paroxysmal headaches,
- nausea,
- vomit,
- epileptic seizures.
Sometimes the psyche is disturbed, hallucinations are possible.
When the ventricles of the brain are damaged, intracranial pressure increases, which is an indication for urgent surgery.
Cysticercosis of the eye causes visual impairment and often leads to blindness.
Damage to muscle tissue, subcutaneous tissue and skin often occurs with barely noticeable symptoms.
How is cysticercosis diagnosed?
X-ray examination may detect cysticercus capsules only 4-5 years after infection, when they are formed.
More informative methods, especially for brain lesions, are MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), ultrasound (ultrasound).
When the eyes are affected, cysticerci are detected by ophthalmoscopy.
Treatment
The most effective treatment is surgery. However, the possibility of its use depends on the number of parasites and their location.
Surgical removal is used when
- eye damage,
- cysticercosis of the ventricles of the brain,
- spinal cord damage.
For conservative treatment, the following drugs are recommended:
- albendazole,
- Praziquantel
However, some features of drug treatment should be taken into account.
Praziquantel is effective against cysticerci in the brain parenchyma and under the meninges. According to statistics, 90% of patients recover. When treating lesions of the ventricles of the brain and spinal cord with this drug, the effectiveness is only 47%. The effectiveness of treatment can be judged only 6 months after the course.
Treatment with medications is not recommended when cysticerci are localized in the eye and in the ventricles of the brain and because the destruction of parasites can increase local inflammation and damage these organs, causing severe complications.
Preventive measures are the same as for taeniasis (described above).
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