Q. 3. Write a note on economic importance of Taenia solium. What diseases are caused by adult Taenia and its cysticerci ? Add a note on the treatment of these diseases and their control.
Disease caused by the infection of tapeworms is called cestodiasis. Infection may be due to the adult worm or by its cysticercus larva. The effects of infection accordingly are called taeniasis and cysticercosis.
1. Taeniasis: It is infection of a person with adult worm. Usually one tapeworm is present in the intestine because presence of a tapeworm provides immunity (premunition) against fresh infection. Its presence produces a variety of symptoms in the host. This causes abdominal pain, nausea, anaemia, indigestion, increased appetite and increase in the number of eosinophils (eosinophilia). The effect of parasite on healthy host is not very serious but severe symptoms develop in children and weak patients.
2. Cysticercosis: This is caused by infection with cysticercus larva or bladderworm. The larva may get encysted in host’s voluntary muscles or, cardiac muscles in any part of the body including eyes, heart, spinal cord, brain etc. The symptoms may be epileptic fits, convulsions, giddiness, headache, vomiting, or local paralysis.
Treatment : Antihelminthic drugs such as camoquin, carbon tetrachloride, aspidium, dichlorophen are used to treat tapeworm infection. Praziaquantel (pyrazinois quinolines) is the modern drug which kills the adult tapeworm as well as the cysticercus. Niclosamide kills the adult worm alone. Flubendazole is the only drug that works on cysticercus.
Prophylaxis :To avoid eating raw or imperfectly cooked pork is the best way of preventing infection. Pork bladderworms are killed when heated to 55°C but the centre of large pieces of pork remains uncooked.