Taenia saginata

Objectives
Introduction
Morphology
Epidemiology
Life cycle
Pathogenesis and clinical features
Lab diagnosis
Treatment and prevention
 introduction
• T.saginata is also known as beef tapeworm
• The name taenia is from greek word meaning tape
or band
• They live in human small intestines (jejunum)
• Man is the definative host
• Cattle is the intermideate host
• Is unarmed tapeworm of man because it’s scolex
has no rostellum or hooklets
• Is zoonotic tapeworm
• Causes taeniasis
 morphology
• Adult T.saginata is white in color or semi-transparent,
ribbon-like, dorsoventrally flattended and segmented and
is about 2-4 m in length
• Adult consist of head(scolex), neck and the body(strobila) .
• The head is about 1-2 mm in diameter, bearing 4
hemispherical suckers which are situated at its four
angles and they serve as sole organ for attachment
• Suckers may be pigmented
• The neck is long and narrow
• The strobila(trunk) consist of 1000-2000 proglottids
• Egg is not infective to human
• Adult T .saginata has vagina but lacks accessory lobe of
 epidemiology
• T.saginata is worldwide but the infection is not
found in vegetarians and those who don’t eat
beef
• T.saginata is mostly common in eastern
Europe, Russia, Eastern Africa,and latin
American
• Transmission
• Feco-oral route
• By eating raw or undercooked beef
 Life cycle
• T. Saginata life cycle requires 2 hosts
• Definative host-human, intermidiate host- cattle (cows and buffalo)
• The gravid segments or eggs from adult worm breakaway and are
expelled and passed out with feces on the ground
• The eggs deposited in soil remain viable for several weeks
• They are infective to cattle which ingest the eggs while grazing on
contaminated vegetation
• when ingested by cattle, the egg shell ruptures releasing
onchospheres in intestinal wall and circulate to striated muscles
where the onchosphere develop to mature larva, cysticercus bovis
• Man acquires infection by ingesting raw or undercooked beef
containing cysticerci and are digested out of meat in the stomach
• in small intestine the scolex attaches to the mucosa and they
gradualy develops into adult worm in2-3 months
 Pathogenesis and clinical features
• T. saginata causes intestinal taeniasis
• The infection is largerly asymptomatic
• Carriers are often aware of motile proglottids felt
emerging from anus unbidden and may cause
distress.
• Conspicuous in feaces because of their motility
• Main cause of symptomatology is their
indepedence emergence from the anus
• The symptomatic features include; abdominal
discomfort, vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea,
indigestion and irritable bowel movements
 Lab diagnosis
• Specimen ; stool, anal swabs
• Stool examination by either direct smear or
concentration method by sedimentation (formalin-
ether technique)
• Eggs show characteristic of taenae but species
identification cant be done
• The eggs are spherical, brown (bile stained), surrounded
by thick walled and striated embryosphore which
contains onchosphere with 3 pairs of hooklets
• Serological diagnosis can aslo be done eg ELISA test i.e
Ag or Ab in csf and blood
• Molecular diagnosis by DNA probe and PCR
 Treatment and prevention
• Treatment is by precription of Single dose of;
praziquantel ,niclosamide and Albendazole for
15 days
• Prevention is by;
1. careful handwashing
2. Thorough cooking of beef
3. Strict inspection of beef in slaughter houses