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Cysticercosis

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

This the condition when there is infection with Taenia solium and human tissue is invaded by the larval form.

  • natural life cycle of T solium is for a human host infected with the adult intestinal worm to shed eggs (ova), which can survive for several months before ingestion, or egg-filled motile worm segments (gravid proglottids) into the environment
    • are subsequently ingested by pigs through contamination of their diet

  • ova hatch within the porcine gastrointestinal tract to become oncospheres, invade the mucosa to gain access to the bloodstream, migrate to various tissues and encyst to become cysticerci

  • when a human ingests encysted pork, the cysticerci attach to the intestinal mucosa and mature into adult tapeworms, completing the life cycle

  • human neurocysticercosis is an aberration of this life cycle and occurs when a human (rather than a pig) ingests the ova of T solium

  • cysticerci (cysts) form within various human tissues (cysticercosis), much the same as within the porcine host

 


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