Taenia saginata

Name

Greek: tainia = band, tape. Latin: saginatus = strong, thick. English: beef tapeworm of humans.

Geographic Distribution/Epidemiology

Worldwide: WHO estimates that nearly one million of humans are infected, especially in countries with intensified cattle farming.

Morphology/Life Cycle

The life cycle of this tapeworm is diagrammatically depicted in Fig. 1 of the keyword Taenia solium , since many features of both human tapeworms are very similar. T. solium reaches a length of 6–10 m. Its scolex (measuring 1–2 mm) is also armed with four strong suckers, but rostrum with hooks is lacking (Fig. 1). The terminal proglottids, which are excreted singly or in groups of 2–3, measure up to 2 cm × 7 mm and thus are considerably larger than those of T. solium; also their uterus has much more lateral branches (up to 35–40) than that in the terminal proglottids of T. solium (Fig. 2). The spherical eggs are morphologically indistinguishable from those of T. soliumand measure also 30–40 μm in...