2nd Intermediate Host

Final Host
Infective Stage

Diphyllobothrium latum
Fish tapeworm, Broad Tapeworm
Small Intestine
Cyclops or Diapomus (first passed in the water)
Crustaceans
Freshwater fish (pike, trout, salmon, perch)
Man, dog, cat
Plerocercoid

Diagnostic Stage

Unembryonated eggs in feces

Mode of Transmission

Ingestion of imperfectly cooked infected fish or roe

containing plerocercoid larvae
Diphyllobothriasis, Bothriocephalus anemia,
Intestinal obstruction

Common Name
Habitat
1st Intermediate Host

Pathology

Diagnosis

Taenia saginata
Beef Tapeworm
Small intestine
Cattle, cow, buffalo

Man
Cystericus bovis, oncosphores develop into
cystercerci in muscle
Eggs or gravid proglottids in feces passed in to
environment
Eating beef containing Cystericus bovis (bladder
worm)
Taeniasis: intestinal obstruction, appendicitis,
duodenitis, pruritis, weakness, weight loss

Microscopic examination of feces (operculated eggs,

vomited proglottids)
Praziquantel, Niclosamide

Treatment

Criteria for cure

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS
Scolex
Neck
Proglottid
ADULT

Uterus

EGG

Life Span
GENERAL DESCRIPTION

LARVA

1st stage
2nd stage

Detection of eggs, proglottids and scolex,

Concentration techniques for eggs, Perianal swabs
Praziquantel
- 5-10mg/kg single dose
Niclosamide
Recovery of the scolex, negative stool examination 3
months after treatment
MORPHOLOGY
Largest tapeworm in man
Measures up to 25 meters,
Dark central markings in the strobila
Genital pore
Spoon-shaped or spatulate, Unarmed with sucking
Unarmed (no rostellum and hooklets)
organ (Bothria)
Thin, Unsegmented, Longer than the head
3,000-4,000 proglottids, dried up segments break off
1,000-2,000 proglottids
from the body in chains
Gravid proglottid
- 97,000-124,000, segments are shed singly, may
leave the host: body, clothes, bed
Center of the segment, rosette-form
DICHOTOMOUS or tree-like
5-15 years
Pass out in the feces in large numbers, bile-stained,
operculated, thick-shelled, unembryonated, not
infective to man
Coracidium
- ciliated oncosphore develops egg in water
Procercoid
- spindle-like body with cephalic invagination
- inside the Cyclops (1st IH)

10 years or more
Spherical, inner and outer shell, inner embryophore is
thick walled and radially striated, oncosphore with 3
pairs of hooklets

Taenia solium
Pork Tapeworm
Small intestine
Pig

Man
Cysticercus cellulosae (bladder worm)
Eggs or gravid proglottids in feces passed in to
environment
Eating raw pork containing viable cysticerci
Taeniasis: organ obstruction is less likely
Cysticercosis: multiple, location (striated muscles),
may develop in other organs, Neurocysticercosis (most
serious)
Intestinal stool exam: detection of proglottids, eggs,
scolex
Praziquantel
- 5-10mg/kg single dose
Niclosamide
Recovery of scolex, negative stool examination 3
months after treatment
Rostellar hooklets: dagger-shaped or Arabian poniards
4 cup-like suckers (armed with rostellum and hooklets)

800-900 proglottids
Gravid proglottids
- 30,000-50,000 eggs, expelled passively in chains
7-12 side branches on either side, dendritic or fingerlike
25 years
Same with Taenia saginata, thick brown striated
embryophore surrounding a hexacanth embryo,
infective to man and pigs

3rd stage

Plerocercoid
- head is invaginated in the neck
- Freshwater fish (2nd IH)