Tapeworm Symptoms, Treatment, And Prevention
87What are Tapeworms?
Tapeworms (cestoda) are a type of parasitic flatworm that live in the intestines of the bodies of host organisms, such as humans, cows, pigs, dogs, and cats. The most common tapeworms in humans are fish tapeworm, beef tapeworm, pork tapeworm, and dwarf tapeworm.
Fish tapeworms are the longest tapeworms, averaging about 30 feet long, but growing up to 100 feet. They can affect humans, bears, dogs, cats, seals, and weasels.
Beef tapeworms usually range between 10 to 15 feet, but can grow up to 65 feet long in some cases. They most commonly infect cows and humans, but can only reproduce asexually in human hosts.
Pork tapeworms are usually between 1/4 and 1/2 inch long, and inhabit pigs and humans.
Dwarf tapeworms are the smallest kind of tapeworm commonly affecting humans, only a few tenths of an inch long. They live in the intestines of rats (and, of course, people).
Life cycles of these types of tapeworms can be seen below. Click the thumbnail to see full-size images.
A Tapeworms' Life Cycle
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Causes & Prevention of Tapeworms
As you can see from the illustrations of tapeworm life cycles above, the cause of growth in humans is eating undercooked, infected meat or other means of ingesting tapeworm eggs or larvae. Therefore, prevention emphasizes personal hygeine and cooking methods.
Tips for Preventing Tapeworms:
- Wash hands after using the toilet
- Wash hands before and after handling meat
- Wash hands before eating
- Freeze meat for 12 hours before cooking
- Freeze fish for 24 hours before cooking
- Cook meat at temperatures of at least 150 degrees Fahrenheit
- Avoid undercooked meat and fish
- Promptly treat tapeworm in pets or livestock
Pictures of Tapeworms
Symptoms of Tapeworms
Often, tapeworm infections present no symptoms whatsoever. When symptoms do arise, however, it's important to pay attention. Keep in mind that not all of these symptoms will necessarily appear together.
If you have been exposed to undercooked meat or infected animals, and have any doubt about whether or not you might have tapeworms, please consult your doctor immediately.
Signs of Intestinal Tapeworm Infection
- Nausea
- Muscle weakness
- Diarrhea
- Weight loss
- Malnutrition
- Abdominal Pain
- Passing worm sections in stool
Tapeworms can also move out of the intestines and start infesting other tissues. This is a much more serious condition, causing complications that can require treatment in their own right.
Complications of Invasive Tapeworm Infection
- Fever
- Cystic lumps or masses
- Allergic reactions
- Bacterial infections
- Possible seizures (where brain tissue is involved)
Tapeworm Treatment
If you are diagnosed with tapeworms by your doctor (usually by stool sample), there is effective treatment.
Since tapeworms prevent the aborption of food, and also medication, the most common course of treatment for tapeworms must attack the worms directly. Your doctor will usually prescribe one of several anthelmintics (parasite-expelling drugs), which are toxic to the worms. These medications kill and dissolve the bodies of adult tapeworms, but do not exterminate larvae, so it is key to avoid reinfection using the prevention tips above.
Doctors often recommend a gentle laxative to ease the passing of the tapeworms, but because tapeworms attach themselves with barbed hooks to the inside of your intestinal walls, laxatives are not usually an effective treatment by themselves, contrary to proponents of colon cleansing.
If you have an invasive infection including cysts, anti-inflammatory drugs such as steroids may be used to reduce swelling. In extreme cases, where cysts are life-threatening, surgery may be necessary.
While the word "parasite" is a scary one, there is not usually a need for excessive concern where tapeworms are concerned, unless they have gone undetected for long periods of time. In people who receive appropriate treatment, over 95% are successfully rid of all eggs, larvae, and adult worms.
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Comments
Maddie,
Excellent HubPage!
Very informative and the graphics were very well done. Thank you!
Respectfully, Nicholas Chase
Maddie,
You taught me something new. I had no idea that humans can get tapeworms like pets do. I know for years people teased my brother when he would eat a lot and say "what do you have a tapeworm" but to actually see a photo of it. YUK!!
Thanks for alerting us through your remarkable article.
Stay well, Laurie
Black Walnut extract kills tapeworms, and then the laxatives can expel them.
When I was in college taking Anatomy and Physiology 101, we had a woman from the health department come give us a talk on tapeworms. She had a gallon jar full of large tapeworms. She said they came out of a two year old girl. I cannot imagine the agony that child must have been in.
To get rid of tape worms and other parasites, it is a parasite cleanse that is needed rather than a colon cleanse.
The best ones have a combination of herbs such as clove, garlic, black walnut, wormwood, etc. because no one herb will cleanse all types of parasites.
The best to you.
Kelley Eidem
Together we can cure cancer - one person at a time!
good read, I will never look at meat and tape worms the same again!
Good job on this hub Maddie! You really presented this information in an authoritive, effective manner. Thank you very much for that. I appreciate that. It is very helpful.
marketingmergenow
Interesting stuff and the illustration of the Pork and Beef worms are totally “Alien-like” gross’n scary. I’m turning vegan! Will I have nightmares now of the attacking GIANT tapeworms from planet Uranus? Lol…. OMG, remind me not to bring the laptop into the bathroom with me, lol.There was an ANIMAL PLANET episode featuring a schoolteacher couple that went on a camping/fishing trip. It turns out they didn’t cook their fish long enough and had tapeworms! Makes me think now of Sushi worms, but fresh water fish, you’d think, would be more susceptible to the dreaded worm than salt water, but who knows?
I actually have these and have always had problems having bowl movements, I actually never go and use Colonics. Which I where I have been seeing them. Doctor perscribed medication and I'm still taking them. Its a scarey thing to look at. I wish I could find a way to figure out how to have normal bowl movements but after every treatment, meds, x-rays even colonoscopy, you name it. There is nothing supposably wrong.
say if u have a cat that had worms, and u somehow contracted worms from the cat how long does it take for symptoms to start?
There is no such thing as tapeworms..they are fictional. You are all idiots.
tapeworms are there in humans although they rarely cause serious effects may be thats why they are overlooked.
Thanks for the info! I have tapeworms myself and I starte freaking out when I found out. I still have to go the doctors and get medication.
Carl must be a doctor
i have a tapeworm, it's destroying my life i don't know what to do I feel tired all the time I can literally feel it draining all my energy and taking all my food I have a harsh cough and get a tickly throat when it moves and can feel it eating my food, get really bloated and can feel it in my intestenes and can eat and eat and eat. I've been to the doctors loads but they just say it's in my head which is so frustrating i just wanna get rid of it and get on with my life! my friends seen it to-so I know it's really there and pharmacys won't prescribe the drugs without seeing a doctor-i've ordered internet ones but they haven't worked and are expensive
Huh I didnt know this. Well looks like I get extra credit in health class after all! =D
GREAT HUBPAGE,GREAT INFORMATIONS.
REGARDS
I have felt a pain in my upper left side and have been kinda weak lately could it be a tapeworm? I also eat a lot, but have been for years :)
great info! they used to actually have a diet pill that contained tape worms.
That was an awfully convincing fictional tape worm hanging out of my rear a few months ago. I learned my lesson a bit too late about raw fish, salmon in particular. Into the freezer it goes in the future!
BB
I only read this coz i think i may have tapeworms- at this age....all that meat i ate during easter holiday must've been the cause. So i guess i should making my way to the doctor now...
I saw a couple of you guys put that tapeworms eat food. I am in Vet school and had to take a parasitology course. Tapeworms do not necessarily eat food, they absorb the nutrients your body breaks down through their skin, which doesnt leave your body enough for you to absorb. They have hooks to anchor themselves in one spot.
As for the one who said they had abdominal pain...you definitely should go the doctor, tapeworms can cause severe cysts on organs (such as your liver), when these cysts grow big enough they can cause severe pain. If you have this pain, and they find a cyst, plus you have a higher white blood cell count then a tapeworm is definitely a possiblity.
David I- most tapeworms are species specific and humans are generally the intermediate host, in rare cases certain species can cross over into another one, but usually they reject the host after a certain time. canine and feline tapeworms don't usually affect humans. Tapeworms are transmitted to humans via the fecal oral route, or direct ingestion, where as in canine and feline fleas pass the larva through the dog and cats blood. As maddie said, most tapeworms in humans are that of pigs, beef, and fish (that would be the oral route). If you did by chance get exposed to the tapeworms of your cat and one did infect you, generally it would reject its host after a few months, but its hard to say so you should get it checked out if you have symptoms!
As for Carl?? who in the world told you tapeworms were fictional??? you should come work a day at my equine practice reading fecals all day long....and then you can try to tell me we are all idiots...
i have all symthoms of tapeworms,my cat has been treated resently for tapeworm and about 3 months ago also so twice now she has had them from fleas,will it go away like the other brandy said,i have made a app with my m.d but its weeks away,i kindof wont to run to hospital!!!!!!!
Say, if you try "Paragone" found at most health food stores or online health food stores. It works really good but you need to do a followup because the de wormer does not kill all the eggs. I lost alot of weight. Also, tapeworms can be stubborn. I took 5 large gelatin garlic/parsley capsules and had all the tap beer I could handle (Fat Tire) with my sis one evening. I passed a yucky, skinny tape worm the following am...After my morning coffee. My tummy was empty because I ate only fruit that day so it really worked. No hospital for me. Thank you God!
Carl should try coming into the real world, we were shown human tape worms in jars at school many many years ago, horrible looking things
I hear a lot of people mentioning black walnut..... I am allergic to tree nuts..... how would not using black walnut affect my trying to get rid of possible tapeworms?
Where do the cysts usually appear on Humans? My cat has tapeworms back but she is pregnant and can't be treated. I recently had a cyst under my armpit and it's scaring me now.
We were just told that my 8 month old son has a tape worm. We have no idea how he might have contracted it. Our dogs do not have fleas and are on a monthly worm pill. We don't have any cats. He has never had any meat yet, that I know if. The whole family wash their hands almost compulsively. How long can the egg live outside of the host? How are some of the other ways tape worm can be transmitted? How long can someone have a tape worm before symptoms appear? What are some of the things I need to watch out for to make sure there are not additional problems from having a tape worm? Is it true that everyone has a tape worm, it just bothers some once in a while?
If I found out I had worms, I would have to be anesthetized, put on the operating table and they'd be surgically removed. I don't know why, but nothing is more creepy to me. My cat had round worms, and I had a very difficult time with that. I would be downright traumatized if I got them myself. Thanks for the great, albeit, slightly disturbing hub. :)
Thank you and more power!
aww shit... i just ate sashimi... and now i'm reading this... gahh
i'm growing paranoid and looking out for some abnormal signs.
Great information, Thanks a million and GOD bless
anne.moss says:
9 months ago
That's interesting. I have seen my share of tapeworm in cats, where they get it from fleas. It's easy enough to fix with cats, but like with humans, you have to prevent re-infection (by treating the fleas).