What will you do if you feel something creeping out of your anus?

Cosmopolitan especially in cattle raising countries.

 

A long tapeworm 4-10 meters.

Click here to see the different stages.

Adults live in the small intestine of man who is the only definitive host attaching itself to the mucosa.

 

• Gravid segment, containing eggs, usually detach singly, pass out mixed with faeces or creep out of the anus by their own activity.

• Eggs or gravid segments are ingested by the intermediate host (cattle) while grazing in an area contaminated with human faeces.

• In the cattle intestine, onchosphere hatches, penetrating the mucosa, carried by the blood to reach the systemic circulation via lung and right side of the heart.

• They are distributed everywhere especially the heart and active striated muscles where they develop into cysticercus bovis which remain viable for one year then calcified.

Eggs and gravid segments passing with stool are the diagnostic stages.

Cysticercus bovis is the infective stage.

Click here to see the life cycle.

    By ingestion of undercooked beef containing viable cysticerci usually in the form of hamburgers or grilled meat (Kebab).  In the human small intestine, the scolex is evaginated and gets attached to the mucosa and develops to maturity in about 3 months.

Let us discover what this parasite will do in your body.