What are these parasites commonly known as?
Tape worms
How do these parasites feed?
They absorb nutrients from the gut of their host, they do not have a gut tract
How do these parasites attach to the host?
They use their scolex to attach to the intestine of their host. They can move up and down in response to competition and food availability.
What are the hosts of these parasites?
Vertebrates
Taenia saginata
Beef tapeworm
Adult infects humans
Scolex has 4 suckers and no hooks
Acquired by eating undercooked beef
Cysticerci are the part we eat
Mature parasite lives attached to small intestine
Eggs leave through feces and are eaten by cows
Taenia solium
Pork tapeworm
Associated with poor sanitary conditions
Scolex has 4 suckers and hooks
Acquired by eating undercooked pork
Live in small intestine
Cysticercosis
Aquired from eating the egg of taenia solium.
Can lodge in many tissues including eye, liver, brain, spine
Produces cyst with juvenile inside
Echinococcus granuloses
Dog tapeworm (Adults in dogs)
Sheep eat dog feces (juvenile cysts)
Dogs eat sheep (adult)
Echinococcus multilocularis
Infects canids and rodents
Extremely difficult to treat
egg infects humans through feces and creates cyst
diphyllobothrium latum
Fish tapeworm
infection in humans comes from raw freshwater fish
laravae->copepods->minnows->Fish->humans
Can give a metabolic disorder, it takes all the vitamin B12
Schistocephalus solidus
Bird tapeworm
eggs->copepod->fish->bird
intermediate stage in fish alters behaviors and grows very large
Takes a lot of energy from fish but not from bird
dipylidium caninum
Flea tapeworm
eggs->flea larvae->cat/dog
Hymenolepis diminuta
rat tapeworm
eggs->flower beetle->rat/human
