Tapeworm danger of eating raw food
Print Edition
AN 8-meter-long pork tapeworm was recently discovered inside a patient. Doctors warned that people can be infected by the parasite through eating raw pork, fish and fish eggs.
The inspection department of Ruijin Hospital received a patient’s excrement sample late last month and found a “curry-like noodle” in the sample. Further checks found that it was a live pork tapeworm.
Tapeworms are a common intestinal parasite to the human terminal host.
A tapeworm mainly has four categories: Taenia solium (pork tapeworm), Taenia saginata or bovine tapeworm (beef tapeworm), Taenia asiatica (Asian tapeworm) and Diphyllobothrium latum (broad tapeworm).
Tapeworm adult parasitic in the human intestinal tract generally has the appearance of a creamy white flat ribbon.
The head end is thinner, while the back is wide and flat. The general pork tapeworm can grow up to 4 meters, beef tapeworm up to 8 meters and the broad tapeworm up to 10 meters.
The life of a tapeworm is divided into three stages: eggs, larva (also known as cysticercosis) and adulthood.
The adult contains eggs of the pregnancy section in the faeces out of the host. The human tapeworm infection is caused by ingestion of meat contaminated by the larvae.
The pork tapeworm and Asian tapeworm cysticercosis parasite can be found in the pig’s body. Bovine tapeworm cysticercosis is a parasite in animals like cattle, sheep, llamas, giraffes and antelope, while the broad tapeworm is in the host of fish, such as salmon.
The bovine, Asian and broad tapeworms do not cause any pathological changes to the human. Though they can cause appendicitis and intestinal obstruction. Most infected people have no severe symptoms, only occasional abdominal discomfort, hunger, indigestion and weight loss.
The pork tapeworm is the most harmful. In addition to fully grown parasites, larva can also be parasitic.
The main parasite sites of cysticercosis are in subcutaneous tissue, muscle, brain and eye, followed by the heart, tongue, mouth, as well as the liver, lungs and other important internal organs.
China’s general pork tapeworm and Asian tapeworm are relatively rarely found in the cities.
It is more common in the countryside in northern and western regions in China.
But there is an upward trend in urban infection, mainly relating to people eating sashimi and raw eggs.
Therefore, people need to have the right protection awareness. Try to eat less raw food and pay attention to personal hygiene.
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