Beef Tapeworms:
Adult Beef Tapeworms (
Taenia saginata) live inside the human intestine, and can reach 20 meters in length (!), though this is exceptional. Three to five meters is more common. Infection comes from eating improperly-cooked beef. (Other species of tapeworms infect pigs and fishes; eating pretty-much
any uncooked meat carries a risk of infection.)
Eggs and proglottids produced by adult tapeworms are shed in the host’s feces. If an infected person defecates onto grass, and a cow then eats the contaminated grass, larvae hatch out of the eggs in the cow’s gut and migrate into its muscle tissues. (The larvae cause infected beef to look “measly.”)
If a person eats contaminated beef that has not been cooked to a temperature sufficient to kill the larval tapeworms, they will attach to the intestinal wall. A serious infection will cause the person to lose weight, because the tapeworms are absorbing so many nutrients that would normally be absorbed by the person. There are persistent rumors that some companies sold tapeworm eggs as weight-loss products in the past, though this has never been verified.
The life cycle of Taenia saginata
, the Beef Tapeworm.
Just how desperate would you have to be to buy these?
Weight-loss is guaranteed, but side effects include anemia,
bleeding from the anus, and the embarrassment of finding
live worms in your underwear from time to time.
Beef Tapeworms
What are the symptoms of a liver fluke infection? I like sushi and has eaten plenty in my life. They were cooked though, or so I thought.
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