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Taenia solium

Taenia solium

Taenia solium

Taxonomy

  • Kingdom Animalia
  • Phylum Platyhelminthes
  • Subclass Cestoda
  • Order Ciclophyllidea
  • Family Taeniidae
  • Genus Taenia

Final host

  • Humans

    Morphology

  • Adult: tape shaped and ≈ 3-5 m long
  • Scolex has four suckers and is armed with a rostellum that bears two rows of hooks
  • Mature proglottids with a single set of genital organs
  • The ovary is in the posterior third of the proglottid and has two lobes with an accessory third lobe
  • Gravid proglottids are longer than wide and have an uterus with 7-12 lateral branches on either side
  • The small and spherical eggs (≈ 30 - 45 µm) have a radially striated embryophore with a six-hooked oncosphere
  • The cisticercus (Cysticercus cellulosae) has a fluid-filled bladder that (≈ 0.5-1.5 cm long) with an invaginated scolex

    Cycle

  • Indirect
  • Intermediate host: pigs (humans can also act as intermediate host)

    Location

  • Small intestine

    Feeding

  • Intestinal contents (absorption by the tegument)

    Diagnostic

  • Gravid segments and eggs (final host)
  • Cysticercus (intermediate host)

    Transmission

  • Teniosis: Cysticercus cellulosae (pig muscle)
  • Cisticercosis: egg (faecal- oral route)