Tapeworm infection is very annoying infection that can be solved very successfully, but it can also end with very serious consequences.
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Scientifically named Hymenolepis nana, in plain English the dwarf tapeworm, is one of the most common tapeworm infection in the world. It is mostly connected with persons living in large communities, institutional buildings like orphanages, and you can easy catch it in areas where sanitation is inadequate. That infection is most common in children, but it can affect anybody with poor personal hygiene.
The patient gets infected by ingesting tapeworm eggs. Those eggs can be found in faecally contaminated foods and water, and they can also be entered in the human body by touching the mouth with contaminated hand or by ingesting contaminated soil.
Adult tapeworms are very small if you compare it with other tapeworms and they can be 15-40 mm in length (however, diphyllobothrium latum can be 18 meters long!). The adult tapeworm is made up of many small segments named proglottids. As the tapeworm grows in the intestines, those segments break and pass into the stool.
An adult tapeworm can live four to six weeks. But, the tapeworm can reproduce inside the body, that's called auto infection, and their number grows which in turns lead to very serious health conditions.
Now, what are the symptoms of that unfortunate infection? Most patients who are infected don't have any symptoms at all. Those patients who have symptoms usually experience nausea, weakness, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Young children, especially those with a heavy infection, can develop a headache, itchy bottom, or have difficulty sleeping.
Contrary to a very popular belief, a tapeworm infection does not always cause weight loss. And there's another myth that has to be debunked: No, you cannot feel the tapeworm inside your body. So, if you can't feel it, how it is diagnosed? Your doctor has one simple option: he must identify tapeworm eggs in stool. He will ask you to submit stool specimens collected over several days and the people in laboratory will see the eggs very easily.
Now, your next question is: Is the tapeworm infection serious? The good news here is that the infection with the dwarf tapeworm is not serious in most cases. The real danger is in prolonged infection that can lead very serious symptoms - and eventually to death - so, the doctor's help is necessary in order to eliminate the tapeworm.
But there is another good news: treatment is available and not complex. There is a prescription drug called praziquantel. It causes the tapeworm to dissolve within the intestines. The side-effects of praziquantel are almost nonexistent, at least for humans. In some cases more than one treatment is necessary but it the end the worm loses the battle.
As with other infections the main question is "Can I infect other people?" Yes, you can. Tapeworm eggs are infectious immediately after they come in faeces. They can infect other people the same way they infected you, and they also infect you again.
Luckily, there is one very simple but very effective way to avoid this infection: wash your hands. You may touch anything you want, you may work with animals or in heavily infected areas, if you wash your hand before you touch your mouth, you minimize the chances to get the infection. When in unknown areas, follow two rules: don't drink water from the pipe and don't eat any food that has dirt on it. Following those rules, you are 100% sure that tapeworm will not infect you. ■