Essay On Tapeworm

Tapeworms and their involvement with humans goes back millions of years with the first identifiable case being in 1853 by Von Siebold. Humans have only recently however discovered there parasites with the first during our short time on earth we have acquired around 300 species of tapeworms (Hoberg). Contrary to popular belief it has been discovered that African hominids caught these parasites through scavenging around two million years ago and they then passed them on to domesticated cattle and pigs. I chose to do this parasite due to my initial interest in seeing the removal of one of these worms. Seeing a live tape worm being drawn out of a body slowly is incredible fascinating. It is also a very tense situation because if the worm rips it can exponentially complicate the procedure and may even lead to death. This method is no longer used however and people simply take medication and the worm can then pass through their system. Although even today rural

These estimations however may be low due to the prevalence of this parasite in third world regions with less concise data on causes of death. Furthermore fifty percent of the reported cases are also from low to lower middle income countries. The symptoms for this include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and constipation within eight weeks of ingestion of larva. Unless treated the tapeworm can reside in the host for many years. Tapeworms can be treated in a variety of ways, the most common seems to be medication for early cases that can then simply flush the parasite out of the system. For more advanced cases the tape worm has to be removed surgically (Wang). In some third world countries without our current access to advanced medicine the worm tail is attached to a stick and slowly twirled to remove the worm and not rip it. Cutting the worm will cause its body to recede into the body and result in severe