General Question

imrainmaker's avatar

Do you know anyone who has suffered from Tapeworm infection?

Asked by imrainmaker (8380points) June 6th, 2016

How was it detected and cured? It looks like it takes longer to detect due to similar symptoms to food poisoning and can be life threatening as well ( although rare scenarios).

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5 Answers

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

Do I know anyone who has had tapeworms? If I do, they haven’t shared that information.

MrGrimm888's avatar

Well. In mammals other than us, yes. I worked as a technical in emergency veterinary medicine for 9 yrs. You usually spot tape worm segments in the fecal mater. They are usually white or light in color. Almost like slightly long grains of rice.
To get the parasite, you would have to ingest an insect that had tapeworm eggs on it. You can actually eat a mature tapeworm, but still not get tapeworms. Your stomach acid will desolve it like most things. Most animals get it from fleas. The fleas have tapeworm eggs on them. They bite the animal. The bite itches , so the animal chews at the bite to scratch it. While chewing on the area, the flea is accidentally ingested. So, most domestic animals with tapeworms are not just treated for the parasites, but flea prevention is usually addressed as well.
People who don’t eat insects usually don’t get them. But if you are from a place they do eat insects, make sure they are cooked. You can also ‘smoke’ some insects prior to eating them. That can destroy the eggs too, if done properly.
I’m no doctor, but I would think, it is improbable that you have tapeworms. Food poisoning, and ‘stomach flu’ are leading causes of most digestive symptoms . At least in developed countries…If your water is potable, and food is cooked following guidelines set forth by FDA you should be ok.
However, if you’re noticing anomalies (other than soft stool , or diarrhea ) in/on your feces, you may have some sort of intestinal parasite. This can be confirmed by looking at your feces under a microscope to identify possible signs.
At any rate. Good luck.

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