What is a "pork tapeworm"? What are the hazards to the human body?

Pork is an important ingredient on many people's dining tables in China, and how to choose safe pork has always attracted much attention.

There is a problem pork, which is called "rice pork" because it carries the parasite cysticercus cellulosae. People who eat undercooked pork are prone to infection and pork tapeworm disease.

So what is a pork tapeworm? Taenia solium adults are invertebrates, Taenia solium, banded family, generally 2 ~ 3 meters long, 7 ~ 8 mm wide, with 800 ~ 900 nodes, and the mature nodes at the back end are about 10 mm long.

Microscopically, Taenia solium has a spherical head with a diameter of about 65438±0mm, with four suckers, a protuberance and two small hooks, also known as Taenia solium.

Human is the only ultimate host of Taenia solium, which parasitizes in human small intestine and can cause Taenia solium disease.

Taenia solium is parasitic in human body, and the pregnant egg segment at the back end of the worm body will be excreted with human feces, releasing a large number of eggs. The eggs of Taenia solium are spherical and can survive for several weeks in the outside world. After pigs eat feces containing eggs, the eggs of Taenia solium hatch into larvae with the help of digestive juice of pig small intestine. Hexagonal coccidiosis enters the blood through the small intestinal wall of pigs with a small hook, spreads to the whole body with the blood, and develops into cysticercosis after 60 ~ 70 days. Cysticercosis is ovoid, and contains cystic fluid and concave head in white cyst, which is also called "cysticercosis". Pork infected with cysticercosis will have oval, milky white and translucent blisters the size of soybeans, so parasitic pork is commonly known as "rice pork" or "bean pork".

After people are infected with cysticercus, the head of cysticercus is stimulated by digestive tract bile, turned out from the cyst, attached to the intestinal wall through small hooks and suckers, and developed into an adult Taenia solium after 2 ~ 3 months. The life span of Taenia solium is more than 20 years.

(1) Taenia solium disease

Taenia solium adult parasitism can cause Taenia solium disease, with relatively mild symptoms, mainly manifested as digestive tract symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and so on.

(2) Cysticercus cellulosae

Cysticercosis can cause cysticercosis in pigs, and the condition is serious. The damage caused by cysticercosis mainly depends on parasitic parts, such as cerebral cysticercosis, ocular cysticercosis, subcutaneous and coccygeal cysticercosis, etc.

The clinical symptoms of cerebral cysticercosis are extremely complicated, which may be asymptomatic or lead to sudden death. Usually, the course of disease is slow, and the onset time is 1 month to 1 year, and the longest is 30 years.

Seizures, intracranial hypertension and mental symptoms are the three main symptoms of cerebral cysticercosis, among which seizures are the most common. Cysticercosis is parasitic in brain parenchyma, subarachnoid space and ventricle, which can increase intracranial pressure. Other symptoms include memory loss, vision loss, headache, dizziness, vomiting, unconsciousness, aphasia, limb numbness, local convulsions, hearing impairment, mental disorder, dementia, hemiplegia, blindness and so on.

Simple: Pay attention to personal hygiene. Vigorously carry out health education, publicize the harm of Taenia solium, change bad hygiene habits, do not eat raw meat, wash your hands before and after meals, separate raw and cooked meat knives from the chopping board, and cook the meat well to prevent eating eggs by mistake.