Pork tapeworm in humans
Pork tapeworm is a tapeworm from the Taeniidae family. Parasitizing the pork tapeworm in the human body is called "teniasis". This parasitic invasion manifests itself in the disorder of the digestive function, as well as in neurological and other disorders. Teniosis is dangerous for its complications, in particular, cysticercosis of the brain and eyes.
Pork tapeworm is a parasite, which is also called "armed" because of the numerous sharp hooks on the head and body. The helminth is very large, in length it can reach 4 meters.
There are 4 suction cups on the head of the pork tapeworm, and the hooks can be from 22 to 32. Further, the neck is located, which passes into the segments. They have a quadrangular shape, their number can reach 1000 pieces. By its appearance, the pork tapeworm resembles a direct relative, the bovine tapeworm, but is inferior in size to it.
The worm is a hermaphrodite, it fertilizes itself. Each fertilized segment can contain up to 50 thousand eggs. Inside the egg is an embryo called the oncosphere. To complete the developmental cycle, the oncosphere leaves the human intestine and settles in the body of an intermediate host (pig). After a certain time, the worm again enters the human body and only there it can become a sexually mature individual. However, oncospheres are ready for invasion immediately after leaving the anus of a person, only in this case, you can become infected not with teniasis, but with cysticercosis. This disease is even more dangerous, as it is more difficult to treat.
The disease is widespread in Asian, African and Latin American countries. Although cases of teniasis are reported worldwide, most cases are in those regions where pig production is well developed. Therefore, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics are no exception. In global foci endemic for this parasitic invasion, the infection of pigs is up to 35%, so there are hundreds of thousands of sick people.
Content:
- Pork tapeworm symptoms
- Ways of human infection with pork tapeworm
- What is the danger of pork tapeworm?
- Pork tapeworm development life cycle
- Diagnostics of the pork tapeworm
- Pork tapeworm treatment
Pork tapeworm symptoms
The symptoms of pork tapeworm in humans can look different. Sometimes they are completely absent, sometimes they appear, but weakly, and sometimes the clinical picture is quite pronounced.
The first signs of the disease manifest themselves 1.5-2 months later after ingestion of the worm larvae.
The symptoms of pork tapeworm in the body can be as follows:
- First, there is nausea and vomiting, then stool disorder joins. In this case, severe diarrhea is replaced by persistent diarrhea.
- The person's appetite deteriorates, and slow weight loss begins.
- Pains of varying intensity occur in the abdomen, ranging from mild aching pains to severe cramping attacks.
- For teniasis, anal itching is characteristic.
- Patients often complain of headaches, dizziness, and increased irritability.
- The patient's sleep suffers. During the daytime, this is expressed in increased fatigue and fatigue.
- Fainting is sometimes observed.
- The patient develops iron deficiency anemia with symptoms characteristic of this condition.
- The immune system suffers. A person becomes more susceptible to other diseases.
It should be noted separately the infection with the extraintestinal form of teniasis - cysticercosis. So, during vomiting, the segments of the parasite from the intestine can enter the human stomach. Any of these may contain invasive pork tapeworm eggs. In the stomach, the egg shell dissolves, and the larvae begin to migrate through the human body. They can settle on any internal organs and muscles. Thus, cysticercosis of the eyes, skin, brain, lungs or heart develops. Therefore, the symptoms of each disease should be considered separately.
Pork tapeworm symptoms in the brain
It is the brain that is affected by cysticercus most often, if we consider the extraintestinal form of the disease (about 60% of all cases of extraintestinal invasion).
- Cysticercosis of the cerebral hemispheres. Patients have cerebral hypertension and hydrocephalus if the cerebral hemispheres are affected. This is expressed in severe paroxysmal headaches, in frequent dizziness. Speech abnormalities, deterioration of sensitivity, epileptic seizures are not excluded. Mental abnormalities in such patients should be noted separately. They often suffer from depressive disorders, hallucinations and delusions.
- Cysticercosis of the ventricles of the brain. If the larvae of the worm penetrate into the ventricles of the brain, then the patient develops very severe attacks of headache, which are accompanied by vomiting. Symptoms increase when turning the head. Doctors call these manifestations Bruns syndrome. In parallel, loss of consciousness can occur and the work of the heart worsens.
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Cysticercosis of the base of the brain. If the larvae of the pork tapeworm begin to parasitize at the base of the brain, then the patient has symptoms of meningitis with headaches, vomiting, and cranial nerve damage.
Cysticercosis of the brain is a very dangerous form of the disease. It should be noted that the defeat of the cerebral hemispheres by the larvae of the pork tapeworm is the leading cause of the development of epilepsy in those countries where teniasis is widespread.
Symptoms of the pork tapeworm in the eye
Cysticercosis of the eyes is manifested primarily by chronic inflammation of the organ of vision. Patients are treated for a long time and unsuccessfully for conjunctivitis, uveitis, retinitis. The larvae are capable of infecting the vitreous humor, penetrating into the conjunctiva, into the retina and into the anterior chamber of the eye. If there is no adequate treatment for a long time, then the development of complete blindness with atrophy of the eyeball is possible.
- Symptoms of cysticercosis of the lungs are almost always absent, and the disease is discovered by chance, during an X-ray examination.
- If the larvae of the pork tapeworm settle in the heart, this is manifested in cardiac arrhythmias.
- The most favorable course of the disease with skin lesions. The invasion can be detected, as a rule, quickly, since a tumor appears in the place where the larva stopped.
Ways of human infection with pork tapeworm
The mechanism of transmission of the pork chain is fecal-oral, while the way of human infection with the pork chain is food (less often - water).
Most often, the penetration of the larvae of the worm into the gastrointestinal tract occurs as follows:
- Eating raw or poorly cooked pork. Infection occurs when the meat contains cysticercus.
- Human infection is possible when drinking water with pork tapeworm larvae.
- Less commonly, the parasite enters the human body with unwashed hands.
The natural susceptibility of people to disease is high. A person sick with teniasis can infect both himself and the people around him with the larvae of the pork tapeworm - cysticercosis of the muscles, brain, eyes, skin, heart.
Pork tapeworm is able to exist in the human body for several decades. The disease is widespread in settlements that are unfavorable in terms of sanitation. Teniosis is more common in adults than in children. At risk are employees of pig farms, meat processing enterprises, as well as housewives.
What is the danger of pork tapeworm?
Pork tapeworm is dangerous to humans with the following consequences:
- Inflammatory, mechanical and toxic effects of the worm on the body.
- Pork chain intake of nutrients that were intended for humans.
- Development of acute appendicitis with the penetration of the worm into the appendix.
- Development of acute pancreatitis or cholangitis.
- Sensitization of the human body by decay products and metabolism of the parasite with the subsequent development of toxic-allergic reactions.
- The formation of intestinal obstruction with multiple invasion, or in the event that the worm gets lost in a lump.
- Cysticercosis of the brain, skeletal muscles, myocardium, lungs, liver, eyes, abdominal cavity, spinal cord.
Since the complications that this parasitic invasion can cause are quite serious, treatment should be as prompt as possible and begin immediately after the detection of pork tapeworm in the human body.
Pork tapeworm development life cycle
The life cycle of the development of a pork tapeworm is quite complex and requires a change of two hosts. The main host of the parasite is humans, and the intermediate is pigs or wild boars.
Adult sexually mature individuals of the tapeworm parasitize in the human intestine, excreting, along with feces, segments that contain invasive helminth eggs.
In the external environment, tapeworm larvae emerge from the segments. They enter the body of pigs when animals eat waste contaminated with oncospheres, or when drinking contaminated water.
After the larva enters the stomach of the animal, it is freed from the membrane and is carried throughout the body with the blood stream. The overwhelming majority of the larvae settle in the muscles of the pig, where future parasites begin to mature. After 2-2.5 months, the oncospheres turn into cysticercus or Finns (vesicles with larvae). Cysticercus remains viable in the pig's body for 3-6 years, after which they calcify and die.
When a person eats meat with pork tapeworm larvae, parasitic infection occurs. After the bubble enters the small intestine, the head is released from it, which, with the help of suckers and hooks, is attached to the intestinal wall and begins to grow. After 2 months, the parasite turns into a sexually mature helminth and begins to excrete segments with eggs into the external environment. This is how the life cycle of a pork tapeworm looks like.
Diagnostics of the pork tapeworm
Diagnosis of pork tapeworm is based on three criteria:
- In the feces of an infected person, segments of the worm are present.
- There is a fact of eating pig meat, which was poorly thermally processed.
- Laboratory diagnostic data. First of all, several studies of feces and perianal scrapings are carried out. Macroscopic examination makes it possible to distinguish the segments of the pork tapeworm from the segments of the bovine tapeworm. The former have 8-18 lateral branches, while the latter have 18-32 branches.
If the patient is diagnosed with teniasis, then he is shown an in-depth study. For this, the patient is sent for ophthalmoscopy, CT of the brain, chest x-ray, ECG and other procedures to exclude cysticercosis of other organs.
Antibodies to pork tapeworm can be detected using the following serological methods: ELISA, RNGA, RSK, NRIF.
Pork tapeworm treatment
Treatment of teniasis is carried out exclusively in stationary conditions, since there is a risk of developing an extraintestinal infection.
Anthelmintic therapy is carried out with drugs such as:
- Praziquantel.
- Niclosamide.
- Male fern extract and pumpkin seeds.
After 2 hours after taking the drug, the patient is offered to take a saline laxative. This allows the segments of the worm to be brought out along with the eggs. It is important that the patient adheres to a dietary diet a few days before starting therapy and throughout the course of treatment. Table 13 is considered optimal for such a disease.
After performing anthelmintic therapy, at least 4 control studies of feces are carried out at intervals of 30 days.
If a patient has single cysticerci in the brain or eyes, then surgery is indicated along with etiotropic treatment.
If the patient has an intestinal form of the disease, then the prognosis is most often favorable. The same applies to the cutaneous form of cysticercosis. When it comes to damage to the brain and other internal organs, the prognosis depends on the massiveness of the invasion and on the specific location of the tapeworm larvae.
After completing the course of treatment, the patient must be registered with the dispensary for another 2 years.
Author of the article: Danilova Tatyana Vyacheslavovna | Infectionist
Education: in 2008 received a diploma in General Medicine (General Medicine) at the Pirogov Russian Research Medical University. Immediately passed an internship and received a diploma of a therapist
