Bull tapeworms: life cycle. Bovine tapeworm in humans: symptoms. Stages of the life cycle of bovine tapeworm development

The development cycle of which takes about 20 years, is considered the most dangerous (and largest) parasite that can attack the human body. Its size sometimes reaches 10 meters, which is already critical for a living creature. The main area of ​​residence of the helminth is small intestine. An adult worm has special suckers that allow it to stay in the body. Perfectly shows the development cycle bovine tapeworm diagram presented below. The disease caused by tapeworm is called teniarchinosis. The tapeworm is widespread in Africa, Eastern Europe(in particular in Russia), Latin America and in the Philippines.

The tapeworm can be excreted from the body of the final host in feces, while for some time it is able to exist in “street” conditions, crawling along the soil.

What is a bull tapeworm?

The adult has minimum size 4 meters. The body of the tapeworm consists of segments, the number of which reaches several thousand. Bovine tapeworm eggs (the photo is shown schematically below), laid in the body, can be excreted along with feces. Every year the worm lays more than 600 million of them. Over a lifetime, this figure rises to 11 billion. The strobili are disconnected from the tapeworm. Their task is to distribute eggs to environment. As a result, they enter the body (it is the intermediate host of the worm), and with poorly processed meat it passes to carnivores (including humans). In the body of the main host without treatment, it can live 18-20 years. At the same time, the helminth carrier is initial stages disease may not even understand that he is sick with something. The person is not contagious to the people around him.

The structure of the bull tapeworm

The structure of a bovine tapeworm: head, neck and segments. By gender, the helminth is a hermaphrodite, which makes it easier for it to reproduce. The larva of the bovine tapeworm is found in the uterus of this creature. Here you can find many unreleased oncospheres. The head of the organism is equipped with suction cups that hold the helminth in the intestines of the host.

Worm development

The main host of the bovine tapeworm, as already mentioned, is a person or any predatory animal. An intermediate carrier may be a cow, deer, zebra, yak, bison, etc., that is, any representative arrives in a mature form and is quite capable of reproduction. The segments can emerge from the anus and move independently.

Livestock can become infected with the worm by eating grass (if there were larvae in it or on the soil). Small representatives of the helminth, the Finns, develop in the muscle tissues. Into the body carnivorous mammals and they reach humans through eating raw, dried, poorly fried or boiled meat. The development diagram of the bovine tapeworm perfectly demonstrates all the described routes of infection.

Transmission of the worm is also possible through fleas, which may contain larvae.

The effect of tapeworm on the human body

At a minimum, bovine tapeworm may have a strong effect on gastrointestinal tract, which can cause allergic reaction. The worm consumes everything nutrients from the body, literally sucking them out. Of course, the most expected process will be intestinal inflammation or even obstruction (occurs in late stages disease) which leads to fatal outcome. Pain similar to appendicitis often occurs. And, of course, mechanical impact is inevitable. Because of all this, the secretory and motor function of the digestive tract is disrupted.

Complications are rare. The most common is also the bovine tapeworm (the development cycle will be discussed in more detail below) is capable of penetrating into abdominal cavity and in the vagina. There may be such side diseases, such as pancreatitis, problems with the nasopharynx, appendicitis, peritonitis.

Life cycle

The eggs, found in large quantities in the grass, enter the animal’s body. starts when outer shell opens and oncospheres emerge from it. Their sizes are small - less than a millimeter. The larvae are able to survive the entire winter period, they are resistant to sudden changes temperatures, humidity and dryness. The bull tapeworm is very tenacious. The development cycle of Finns is only six months (sometimes less). Once formed, individuals pass in the body of livestock into various organs, are distributed throughout the intestines. In an intermediate host, they can live for no more than a year, after which they die. If the meat of an infected cow is eaten by a person (or other carnivore), the worm continues to form into an adult. In order for this process to be most successful, the helminth settles in the intestine. After the eggs are released, the life cycle repeats.

Treatment and diagnosis

Symptoms of the process

Bovine tapeworm, the development cycle of which has already been described, causes the disease teniarchinosis. It is divided into two stages: early and late. The second is considered the most dangerous, since the disease begins to become chronic and practically impossible to cure. Since there are almost no symptoms during the initial development, many people learn about the disease much later. The following signs will help in identifying the symptoms:

  • weakness, malaise, drowsiness, fatigue, “fragile” sleep, etc.;
  • nausea with vomiting, heartburn and digestive disorders manifested in constipation or diarrhea;
  • severe abdominal pain and rapidly changing appetite levels.

Preventive measures

Livestock feed should be purchased from reputable suppliers, as it may be contaminated with worm eggs. It is the entry into the body of an intermediate host that can cause the development of larvae. A cow should not be allowed to eat grass of unknown origin on suspicious lawns.

And people should only eat meat that has undergone sufficient heat treatment.

  1. Eggs, which are formed after fertilization in the segments of the bovine tapeworm. The segments, along with the worm eggs, end up in the external environment.
  2. Oncosphere- first larval stage. Develops in an egg. The bovine tapeworm exists in the form of an oncosphere before it enters the muscle tissue intermediate host.
  3. Finna (Finnish)- second larval stage. Formed from the oncosphere in the muscles of cows.
  4. Adult tapeworm with a hermaphroditic reproductive system in each segment. Such a worm develops in the human intestine if it digestive system Finns get there.

The body of the bovine tapeworm consists of many segments, which gradually form in the area of ​​its neck. As you move away from the cervix, the male part is first formed in the joint. reproductive system, then women's. Fertilization in the bovine tapeworm most often occurs between different segments of the same worm. At the same time, the worm's body bends. However, if two or more individuals live in the human intestine, then fertilization occurs between different worms. At worst, in a bovine tapeworm, fertilization can occur within one segment.

After fertilization, eggs are formed, which gradually accumulate in the uterus of each segment. It forms many branches and fills almost the entire volume of the joint. Other parts of the reproductive system are resorbed. Each egg develops one oncosphere larva.

The posterior segments detach from the body of the worm one by one. In the bull tapeworm they are mobile and can come out in external environment not only with feces, but also crawling out. Crawling through the grass, the segments disperse their eggs.

Once in the cow's stomach, the oncosphere emerges from the egg membranes. This first larval stage is spherical in shape with six spines. In the intestine, it drills through its wall and enters the lymphatic or blood vessel. Ultimately, the larva ends up in the bloodstream of its intermediate host. Together with the blood flow, oncospheres are distributed throughout the body. Most often they settle in the muscles, but they can also end up in other tissues.

In the muscles from the oncosphere, a fin develops, which has a spherical shape and is filled with liquid inside. In the bull tapeworm, the shell of the finna is concave inward in one place. In this invagination the small head of the future bovine tapeworm develops.

Finns can live for many years in the body of cows. If contaminated beef meat is not properly cooked, Finns will survive in it. Once in the human stomach, the head of the bovine tapeworm turns out of the fin. The finna itself is being digested. The head reaches the intestine and sticks to it. Next, the segments of the new adult worm begin to gradually form. This completes the life cycle of the bovine tapeworm.

Bull tapeworm (lat. Taeniarhynchus saginatus) is one of the representatives of the type Flatworms, which can reach large sizes. Another name for it is the unarmed tapeworm. It can reach up to 22 meters in length and develop inside a person for 17-20 years. It causes teniarinchiasis. Tapeworms (from the Latin solitarius - lonely) live in the intestines one at a time.

Distribution area

Helminth is widespread everywhere. Areas with types of infestation are identified:

Russia also belongs to areas with minimal infestation; those areas where there is mass breeding of large plants are susceptible to the agent. cattle. Every year, between 40 and 60 million infected people are recorded worldwide.

Description of tapeworm

In its structure, the bovine tapeworm resembles a long ribbon. The color of the worm is white or pale milky. Body diameter is approximately 6-7 millimeters. An adult worm can have up to 1 thousand body segments. The average size of a helminth is approximately 7-13 meters.

Body structure

As the name implies, the body of the worm looks like a ribbon, which is flattened from top to bottom and bilaterally. There are three germ layers (outer - ectodermal, intermediate - mesodermal and inner - endodermal). Respiratory, digestive and circulatory system, but there is a nervous (bilateral) system.

The body has a head (scolex). She's round small size, from 1 to 2 millimeters. There are 4 suction cups on it. The bovine tapeworm differs from the pork tapeworm in that it has no hooks on its head. Hence the second name - unarmed.

Next comes the neck. It is short and inarticulate. This is a narrow, well-defined area behind the scolex. Consists of undifferentiated cells that form a certain shaped mass. They form a zone of growth and segmentation. Here the formation of proglottids occurs.

The segments have a primitive structure. They are square in shape and contain both ovaries and testes. As the segment moves away from the neck, it increases in size, and the number of eggs in it increases to 150 thousand, which also gradually grow. Tearing off from the body, the segments independently move along the intestines, towards the anus. This causes discomfort in humans.

I have eggs round shape. They have a thin shell. They are transparent in color. You can see the oncosphere with three rows of hooks, which has a two-layer yellowish shell.

Life cycle

The main difference between the bull tapeworm is that it constantly divides. The development cycle of the bovine tapeworm can be briefly described in several stages:

Routes of infection

The path that the tapeworm takes to reach human body, one - digestive tract. You can become infected with bovine tapeworm:

Symptoms of infection with teniarinhoz

There are two stages of the disease - initial and chronic. At the initial stage, tapeworm infection is accompanied by mild symptoms or they do not appear at all. This may be constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, flatulence, weight loss, nervous irritability, dizziness, rashes.

Chronic weakening occurs immune system for several years. This may be accompanied by anemia, headache, and weakness. All symptoms are nonspecific, so doctors may attribute the infection to another disease.

Diagnostic methods

A number of examinations that doctors advise you to undergo, to determine the presence of teniarhynchosis:

  1. Analysis of stool for the presence of eggs;
  2. Determining the presence of a worm in the intestines using radiography;
  3. Blood test for anemia, eosinophilia and leukopenia;
  4. Inserting a tube into the stomach so the doctor can examine the worm.

Treatment of the disease

The patient must be admitted to hospital, as the drugs are highly toxic. For this reason, self-medication is also impossible.

The course contains:

  1. Antihistamines;
  2. Special diet;
  3. Drinking regime;
  4. Diuretics and laxatives.

The drugs mainly used are: Dichlorophen, Fenasal, Biltricide. Avoid eating fried, salty, smoked, sweet, fruits, and some cereals.

Hygiene is mandatory: changing bed linen daily, washing underwear, ironing bed linen. After leaving the hospital, feces are constantly brought in for analysis.

Can be used together with medications unconventional methods. By good means considered folk laxatives: linseed oil, eating crushed pumpkin seeds, pieces of garlic with baked milk on an empty stomach. This helps strengthen the immune system and improve overall well-being.

Prevention measures

Attention, TODAY only!

Bovine tapeworms infect the human intestines and cause periodic spasms and pain. Infection with these worms is fraught dangerous consequences for health. Moreover, not only adults, but also their larvae pose a danger.

Pork and bovine tapeworm

Severe complications can occur if several representatives of this species settle at the same time. Their sizes can reach 6 meters, some specimens are even larger. Bovine and pork tapeworms can live in the human body for several years. One can only imagine the damage they will cause during this time.

The structure of the bull tapeworm

The bullish, or also called unarmed, tapeworm has a body length in adulthood of almost 6 meters. The head is rounded and has several suckers. Next comes the thin neck, which is the growth zone that goes into the body of the worm.

The body of the bovine tapeworm consists of individual segments. Younger ones are located closer to the front of the body. All of them are hermaphroditic, that is, both female and male reproductive cells develop. There is no need for the presence of another individual for fertilization to occur.

Mature segments are located towards the end of the body. If you look at them carefully, you can find a huge number of eggs inside. As they mature, the segments break off and move out of the intestine.

The eggs are round or oval in shape and have a transparent shell. An embryo develops inside, having several pairs of hooks.

It would seem that since the segments come off and leave the human body, then the length of the worm should gradually decrease. But this does not happen, because new ones are constantly being formed. This can go on long enough long time.

Life cycle of the bovine tapeworm

The environment is actively contaminating grass, pastures, and places where animals are kept with eggs. Together with the feed, they end up inside the body of a cow or other cattle. There, having reached the muscles through the bloodstream, after some time they turn into larvae, which are called Finns.

They measure only about 0.5 centimeters, white vial with liquid inside. In this environment the small head of the bovine tapeworm is located. Its structure is already the same as that of an adult.

The life cycle of the bovine tapeworm is such that the Finns can remain in the animal’s body for several years, and then they die. During this time they pose a danger to humans.

Ways of infection with bovine tapeworm

In a couple of months they will already turn into adult worms.

You can become infected through dirty hands, underwear or food. If it is not a bovine tapeworm, but a pork tapeworm that settles in the body, then there is a danger that when vomiting, the larvae can get from the intestines into the stomach. From there, through the bloodstream, they can spread throughout the body and enter other organs.

Symptoms of bovine tapeworm infection

After bovine tapeworms enter the human body, incubation period. It can have a different duration, usually from 8 to 14 weeks. In some cases, the process lasts for several years.

There are often cases when the disease occurs without any symptoms at all. But basically, if a bovine tapeworm has settled in a person, the symptoms may be as follows:

  1. Periodic abdominal pain.
  2. Attacks of nausea.
  3. Appetite disorder - sometimes it increases, sometimes it disappears completely.
  4. Vomit.
  5. Unreasonable weight loss.
  6. Flatulence.
  7. Frequent urge to have bowel movements.
  8. Rumbling in the stomach.

Since, as a result of its life activity, the bovine tapeworm secretes harmful products exchanges that enter the blood, headaches, dizziness, and sometimes even fainting are often observed.

Especially at night, periodic crawling of segments from the anus is observed.

Diagnosis of bovine tapeworm infection

As a rule, it is not difficult to make a diagnosis of teniarinhoz. It is enough to conduct a laboratory test of human stool to detect worm segments in it.

Microscopy of anal scraping is often used using a native smear, a thick smear according to Kato. Although there are times when they do not give any result.

Bovine tapeworms can also be detected by fluoroscopy after the patient has taken a contrast solution. In the photo the worm will appear as a stripe light color up to 1 centimeter wide.

You should not hide the symptoms of the disease from your doctor, otherwise the consequences can be serious.

Treatment of the disease with medications

Basically the process comes down to receiving anthelmintic drugs, which include:

  • means "Fenasal";
  • essential extract from fern rhizomes;
  • Medical center "Akrikhin".

The treatment regimen and the set of drugs also depend on age group patient. Those medications that are used in adults are not recommended for use in children.

Treatment regimens may change. For example, the drug "Fenasal" can be used according to two schemes:

  1. In the evening, a few hours after dinner, the patient drinks 0.5 teaspoon baking soda, and after a few minutes takes the drug "Fenasal", diluted in sweet water.
  2. The medicine is taken according to the same principle, only in the morning.

Fern essential extract is given in gelatin capsules, which are recommended to be taken on an empty stomach. The entire dose must be drunk within 30 minutes, and then after 1.5 hours take a laxative. You can have breakfast only 2 hours after taking the medicine.

If the stool does not follow on its own after taking the drug, then it is necessary to give an enema.

When taking fern extract, symptoms often appear side effects in the form of nausea, vomiting. In some cases there is a violation cardiovascular activity. It is necessary to urgently consult a doctor so that other adequate treatment can be prescribed.

Treatment with Akrikhin is carried out in almost the same way as with fern extract. The dose is calculated depending on the patient's age and body weight.

During treatment, which may take a long time, periodically prescribed laboratory tests. You can stop taking the medications only after all the eggs have left the body. Only then can we say that the bovine tapeworm no longer lives in humans, and the symptoms also completely disappear.

Treatment with folk remedies

Since most medicines for treatment exhibit toxic properties, then not everyone can withstand such procedures.

In this case, we can advise you to adopt traditional methods.

  1. Peel the herring, chop it finely, mix with 3 cloves of garlic and 1 raw yolk chicken egg, preferably homemade. Add 2 tablespoons of millet and stir everything until smooth. After that, add a glass of chilled boiled milk to this mixture.
  2. Within 2 days before starting treatment, you must switch to a vegetarian diet.
  3. In the morning you need to do an enema with the following solution: mix 1 glass of tansy infusion, prepared from 1 tablespoon of herbs and 250 ml of boiling water, with a glass of milk. The entire mixture must be injected into the intestines and held for as long as possible.
  4. At the same time, you can start taking the prepared composition. During the day you need to take half a glass at regular intervals. It is recommended to use this composition for a week, while following a vegetarian diet.

We can advise you to take the following mixture: infuse 2 tablespoons of a mixture of chamomile, tansy, and wormwood in a thermos. You should take 200 ml in the morning on an empty stomach for 5 days.

Considering the cycle of bovine tapeworm, we can come to the conclusion that treatment must be carried out for a long time, until all signs of infection disappear.

Complications of teniarynchosis

If the disease is detected on initial stage, then there are practically no complications. In some patients, colic can be diagnosed, which is provoked by segments penetrating the appendix.

Bovine tapeworms can cause perforation of the intestine, as they injure its surface with their suckers and hooks.

Prevention of infection with bovine tapeworm

Extracted from a person, the bovine tapeworm looks in the photo as a long white ribbon, 5-7 mm wide, up to 2 mm thick. The average size it reaches over several years is 7-12 m. The worm has the following structure:

  1. The head has four suckers, with the help of which it attaches to the intestinal wall.
  2. A neck consisting of immature segments.
  3. The rest of the body from which mature segments are separated.

Life cycle of the bovine tapeworm

Basic distinctive characteristic helminth is that it constantly continues to divide. Its individual parts - proglottids - are detached from the body after maturation. The entire development cycle of the bovine tapeworm is divided into several stages:

  1. Eggs fall onto the soil with animal or human feces. Low temperatures they are not afraid, after wintering they remain viable. However, under the influence sun rays at a temperature of 35-40 degrees, oncospheres are destroyed.
  2. Grass with worm eggs is eaten by intermediate hosts - deer, cows or buffalo. A larva that finds itself in a new habitat spreads throughout the body through the bloodstream, settling inside tissues and muscles. Here, oncospheres are transformed into fins or cysticerci within 4 months.
  3. Finns reach humans through unprocessed meat. Once in the intestinal cavity, the head with suction cups is attached to the mucous membrane. In 80 days, the cysticercus becomes an adult, capable of reproduction. In a year, a bovine tapeworm is capable of separating up to 2000 proglottids. Most of them are released into the external environment along with feces, starting the cycle all over again.

Bovine tapeworm in humans

Ways of infection with bovine tapeworm

  1. Undercooked beef heat treatment. It can be dried, salted, smoked, dried or lightly fried meat.
  2. Animals that are cared for by a person who does not observe the rules of hygiene.
  3. Poorly washed utensils used for cooking meat products– knives, cutting boards, forks.
  4. Vegetables from the home garden fertilized with manure from an infected animal.

It's possible reinfection person. The intestine is 6 meters long and can accommodate two individuals of this size. In this case, tapeworms are stacked in layers, blocking the passage for digested food. It was noted that, according to statistics, workers in the catering and livestock sector: farmers, milkmaids, butchers and cooks are more likely to suffer from taeniarinhoz than other categories of the population.

Symptoms of bovine tapeworm in humans

  • nervous irritability;
  • fatigue;
  • stomach ache;
  • dizziness;
  • nausea and vomiting;
  • weight loss;
  • allergic rashes;
  • rumbling in the intestines.

Some characteristic features teniarhynchosis help diagnose the disease with a higher probability:

  • feeling of movement in the intestines;
  • itching in the anus;
  • small and large segments of the worm in the feces, which can come out through the anus.

In order to confirm the symptoms, doctors advise undergoing an examination:

  1. A stool test for worm eggs is carried out to examine the segments.
  2. A blood test reveals eosinophilia, leukopenia, and anemia.
  3. Radiography helps to recognize the helminth by visualizing its contours in the intestines.
  4. Fibrogastroscopy. The tube is inserted through the mouth to the stomach, the doctor can examine the worm through the lens of the device.

Treatment of bovine tapeworm in humans

After diagnosis and receipt of final results, treatment of the bovine tapeworm begins. The doctor must select complex therapy and a scheme to promote quick recovery. It is recommended to treat each type of disease as follows:

You need to eat right, eliminating sweets from your diet. Even before you get rid of the bovine tapeworm completely, the body will begin to fight it on its own. At this time, it is necessary to empty the intestines in a timely manner so that the animals do not gain repeated access to feces. After several weeks of intensive therapy, you should be tested again and get confirmation that there are no worms in the body.