Taenia (flatworm)

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Taenia
Taenia saginata adult 5260 lores.jpg
Taenia saginata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Class: Cestoda
Order: Cyclophyllidea
Family: Taeniidae
Genus: Taenia
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Taenia solium

Taenia is the type genus of the Taeniidae family of tapeworms (a type of helminth). It includes some important parasites of livestock. Members of the genus are responsible for taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans, which are types of helminthiasis belonging to the group of neglected tropical diseases. More than 100 species are recorded. They are morphologically characterized by a ribbon-like body composed of a series of segments called proglottids; hence the name Taenia (Greek ταίνια, tainia meaning ribbon, bandage, or stripe). The anterior end of the body is the scolex. Some members of the genus Taenia have an armed scolex (hooks and/or spines located in the "head" region); of the two major human parasites, Taenia saginata has an unarmed scolex, while Taenia solium has an armed scolex. [1]

Contents

The proglottids have a central ovary, with a vitellarium (yolk gland) posterior to it. As in all cyclophyllid cestodes, a genital pore occurs on the side of the proglottid. Eggs are released when the proglottid deteriorates, so a uterine pore is unnecessary.

Selected species

Life cycle

A pair of Taenia proglottids, dried and resembling sesame seeds, each containing hundreds of eggs Desiccated tapeworm proglottids.jpg
A pair of Taenia proglottids, dried and resembling sesame seeds, each containing hundreds of eggs
Life cycle of T. saginata inside and outside of the human body Taenia Saginata Life Cycle.tif
Life cycle of T. saginata inside and outside of the human body

T. saginata is about 1,000–2,000 proglottids long with each gravid proglottid containing 100,000 eggs, while T. solium contains about 1,000 proglottids with each gravid proglottid containing 60,000 eggs. [4]

Divergence of Taenia in humans

Humans were previously thought to have acquired Taenia species (T. solium, T. asiatica, and T. saginata) after the domestication of large mammals, although the omnivorous diet and foraging of early hominids suggest the contact between the ancestral Taenia was established prior to the rise of modern humans and advanced agriculture. Evidence suggests the domestication of animals by humans consequently introduced Taenia species to new intermediate hosts, cattle, and swine. [5]

Morphological and molecular data suggest that the divergence of Taenia specialised human parasites has been directly associated with earlier hominids and prior to the existence of modern Homo sapiens. Direct predator-prey relationships between humans and the original definitive and intermediate hosts of Taenia resulted in this host switch. Ecological evidence showed that early hominids preyed heavily on one of the intermediate hosts, antelope, of Taenia, thus resulting in earlier colonization by the parasite prior to mammalian domestication. The early hominids had an omnivorous diet; they were hunters and scavengers. The abundance of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa savannah in the Late Pliocene resulted in a vast food resource for hominids and other carnivorous animals such as felids, canids, and hyaenids. [5] Hominids who hunted antelopes or scavenged killed antelopes bridged the beginning of a host-parasite relationship between hominids and Taenia. During this time, hominids may not have had the means of cooking their food. This would have greatly increased their chances of catching the cysticerci, as a result of eating uncooked meat. Also, transmission of the parasite may have been enhanced by directly consuming the definitive host. Parasitological data support the foraging of antelope by Homo species during the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene periods. This corresponds to the initial contact of the ancestral Taenia and specialize into T. solium, T. saginata, and T. asiatica, thus resulting in colonization of the early hominids as definitive hosts.

Host switching for Taenia is most prevalent among carnivores and less prevalent among herbivores through cospeciation. An excess of 50–60% of Taenia colonization occurs among carnivores—hyaenids, felids, and hominids. [6] Acquisition of the parasite occurs more frequently among definitive hosts than among intermediate hosts. [6] Therefore, host switching likely could not have come from cattle and pigs. The establishment of cattle and pigs as intermediate host by Taenia species is consequently due to the synanthropic relationship with humans. During the past 8,000–10,000 years, the colonization of respective Taenia species from humans to cattle and to swine was established. [6] In contrast, the colonization of ancestral Taenia onto the early hominids was established 1.0–2.5 million years ago. [6] It clearly shows that the colonization of human Taenia antedates the domestication of mammals.

Related Research Articles

Hymenolepiasis is infestation by one of two species of tapeworm: Hymenolepis nana or H. diminuta. Alternative names are dwarf tapeworm infection and rat tapeworm infection. The disease is a type of helminthiasis which is classified as a neglected tropical disease.

<i>Taenia solium</i> Species of Cestoda

Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm, belongs to the cyclophyllid cestode family Taeniidae. It is found throughout the world and is most common in countries where pork is eaten. It is a tapeworm that uses humans as its definitive host and pigs as the intermediate or secondary hosts. It is transmitted to pigs through human feces that contain the parasite eggs and contaminate their fodder. Pigs ingest the eggs, which develop into larvae, then into oncospheres, and ultimately into infective tapeworm cysts, called cysticercus. Humans acquire the cysts through consumption of uncooked or under-cooked pork and the cysts grow into an adult worms in the small intestine.

<i>Taenia saginata</i> Species of flatworm

Taenia saginata, commonly known as the beef tapeworm, is a zoonotic tapeworm belonging to the order Cyclophyllidea and genus Taenia. It is an intestinal parasite in humans causing taeniasis and cysticercosis in cattle. Cattle are the intermediate hosts, where larval development occurs, while humans are definitive hosts harbouring the adult worms. It is found globally and most prevalently where cattle are raised and beef is consumed. It is relatively common in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. Humans are generally infected as a result of eating raw or undercooked beef which contains the infective larvae, called cysticerci. As hermaphrodites, each body segment called proglottid has complete sets of both male and female reproductive systems. Thus, reproduction is by self-fertilisation. From humans, embryonated eggs, called oncospheres, are released with faeces and are transmitted to cattle through contaminated fodder. Oncospheres develop inside muscle, liver, and lungs of cattle into infective cysticerci.

<i>Echinococcus</i> Genus of worms

Echinococcus is a genus within Cestoda, a parasitic class of the platyhelminthes phylum. Human echinococcosis is an infectious disease caused by the following species: E. granulosus, E. multilocularis, E. vogeli or E. oligarthrus.

<i>Echinococcus granulosus</i> Species of flatworm

Echinococcus granulosus, also called the hydatid worm or dog tapeworm, is a cyclophyllid cestode that dwells in the small intestine of canids as an adult, but which has important intermediate hosts such as livestock and humans, where it causes cystic echinococcosis, also known as hydatid disease. The adult tapeworm ranges in length from 3 mm to 6 mm and has three proglottids ("segments") when intact—an immature proglottid, mature proglottid and a gravid proglottid. The average number of eggs per gravid proglottid is 823. Like all cyclophyllideans, E. granulosus has four suckers on its scolex ("head"), and E. granulosus also has a rostellum with hooks. Several strains of E. granulosus have been identified, and all but two are noted to be infective in humans.

<i>Dipylidium caninum</i> Species of flatworm

Dipylidium caninum, also called the flea tapeworm, double-pored tapeworm, or cucumber tapeworm is a cyclophyllid cestode that infects organisms afflicted with fleas and canine chewing lice, including dogs, cats, and sometimes human pet-owners, especially children.

<i>Hymenolepis nana</i> Species of flatworm

Dwarf tapeworm is a cosmopolitan species though most common in temperate zones, and is one of the most common cestodes infecting humans, especially children.

<i>Taenia crassiceps</i> Species of Cestoda

Taenia crassiceps is a tapeworm in the family Taeniidae. It is a parasitic organism whose adult form infects the intestine of carnivores, like canids. It is related to Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm, and to Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm. It is commonly found in the Northern Hemisphere, especially throughout Canada and the northern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taeniidae</span> Family of flatworms

The Taeniidae are a family of tapeworms. It is the largest family representing the order Cyclophyllidea. It includes many species of medical and veterinary importance, as Taenia solium, Taenia saginata, and Echinococcus granulosus. The Taeniidae are parasites of mammals and many are infectious to humans.

<i>Taenia pisiformis</i> Species of flatworm

Taenia pisiformis, commonly called the rabbit tapeworm, is an endoparasitic tapeworm which causes infection in lagomorphs, rodents, and carnivores. Adult T. pisiformis typically occur within the small intestines of the definitive hosts, the carnivores. Lagomorphs, the intermediate hosts, are infected by fecal contamination of grasses and other food sources by the definitive hosts. The larval stage is often referred to as Cysticercus pisiformis and is found on the livers and peritoneal cavities of the intermediate hosts. T. pisiformis can be found worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taeniasis</span> Parasitic disease due to infection with tapeworms belonging to the genus Taenia

Taeniasis is an infection within the intestines by adult tapeworms belonging to the genus Taenia. There are generally no or only mild symptoms. Symptoms may occasionally include weight loss or abdominal pain. Segments of tapeworm may be seen in the stool. Complications of pork tapeworm may include cysticercosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eucestoda</span> Subclass of flatworms

Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda. Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Cestodaria. All tapeworms are endoparasites of vertebrates, living in the digestive tract or related ducts. Examples are the pork tapeworm with a human definitive host, and pigs as the secondary host, and Moniezia expansa, the definitive hosts of which are ruminants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cestoda</span> Class of flatworms

Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of many similar units known as proglottids—essentially packages of eggs which are regularly shed into the environment to infect other organisms. Species of the other subclass, Cestodaria, are mainly fish infecting parasites.

Diphyllobothrium mansonoides is a species of tapeworm (cestodes) that is endemic to North America. Infection with D. mansonoides in humans can result in sparganosis. Justus F. Mueller first reported this organism in 1935. D. mansonoides is similar to D. latum and Spirometra erinacei. When the organism was discovered, scientist did not know if D. mansonoides and S. erinacei were separate species. PCR analysis of the two worms has shown the two to be separate but closely related organisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coenurosis in humans</span> Medical condition

Coenurosis is a parasitic infection that results when humans ingest the eggs of dog tapeworm species Taenia multiceps, T. serialis, T. brauni, or T. glomerata.

Taenia asiatica, commonly known as Asian taenia or Asian tapeworm, is a parasitic tapeworm of humans and pigs. It is one of the three species of Taenia infecting humans and causes taeniasis. Discovered only in 1980s from Taiwan and other East Asian countries as an unusual species, it is so notoriously similar to Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, that it was for a time regarded as a slightly different strain. But anomaly arose as the tapeworm is not of cattle origin, but of pigs. Morphological details also showed significant variations, such as presence of rostellar hooks, shorter body, and fewer body segments. The scientific name designated was then Asian T. saginata. But the taxonomic consensus turns out to be that it is a unique species. It was in 1993 that two Korean parasitologists, Keeseon S. Eom and Han Jong Rim, provided the biological bases for classifying it into a separate species. The use of mitochondrial genome sequence and molecular phylogeny in the late 2000s established the taxonomic status.

Moniezia expansa is commonly known as sheep tapeworm or double-pored ruminant tapeworm. It is a large tapeworm inhabiting the small intestines of ruminants such as sheep, goats and cattle. It has been reported from Peru that pigs are also infected. There is an unusual report of human infection in an Egyptian. It is characterized by unarmed scolex, presence of two sets of reproductive systems in each proglottid, and each proglottid being very short but very broad.

<i>Raillietina tetragona</i> Species of flatworm

Raillietina tetragona is a parasitic tapeworm belonging to the class Cestoda. It is a cosmopolitan helminth of the small intestine of pigeon, chicken and guinea fowl, and is found throughout the world.

<i>Taenia hydatigena</i> Species of flatworm

Taenia hydatigena is one of the adult forms of the canine and feline tapeworm. This infection has a worldwide geographic distribution. Humans with taeniasis can infect other humans or animal intermediate hosts by eggs and gravid proglottids passed in the feces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cysticercus</span> Larval tapeworm

Cysticercus is a scientific name given to the young tapeworms (larvae) belonging to the genus Taenia. It is a small, sac-like vesicle resembling a bladder; hence, it is also known as bladder worm. It is filled with fluid, in which the main body of the larva, called scolex, resides. It normally develops from the eggs, which are ingested by the intermediate hosts, such as pigs and cattle. The tissue infection is called cysticercosis. Inside such hosts, they settle in the muscles. When humans eat raw or undercooked pork or beef that is contaminated with cysticerci, the larvae grow into adult worms inside the intestine. Under certain circumstances, specifically for the pork tapeworm, the eggs can be accidentally eaten by humans through contaminated foodstuffs. In such case, the eggs hatch inside the body, generally moving to muscles as well as inside the brain. Such brain infection can lead to a serious medical condition called neurocysticercosis. This disease is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy.

References

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  2. Heptner, V. G.; Sludskij, A. A. (1992) [1972]. Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola [Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats)]. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation. pp. 1–732.
  3. Sachs, R (1969). "Untersuchungen zur Artbestimmung und Differenzierung der Muskelfinnen ostafrikanischer Wildtiere". Zeitschrift für Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie (in German). 20 (1): 39–50.
  4. "Taeniasis". DPDx - Laboratory Identification of Parasitic Diseases of Public Health Concern. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
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  6. 1 2 3 4 Hoberg, Eric P. (2006). "Phylogeny of Taenia: Species definitions and origins of human parasites". Parasitology International. 55: S23–S30. doi:10.1016/j.parint.2005.11.049. PMID   16371252.