Beef tapeworm is a parasite found in undercooked beef that settles in the small intestine and feeds on nutrients. It can grow up to 40 feet long and cause symptoms such as fullness, weight loss, and nausea. Infection is more common in areas with poor sanitation and where beef is eaten raw or undercooked. Medications can kill the tapeworm within days.
Beef tapeworm, known scientifically as Taenia saginata, is a type of parasite commonly found in beef. Specifically, it is a flatworm that enters the human body and settles inside the small intestine whenever infected raw or undercooked beef is eaten. Once inside the body, the beef tapeworm feeds on its host’s nutrients and can survive undetected for a number of years.
When inside a cow, the beef tapeworm sees its home as a temporary host and can deposit its larvae in the animal’s muscles. These larvae travel through the animal’s body and form cysts in the cow’s muscles, which produce a condition known as beef measles. During its lifetime, Taenia saginata can average up to 40 feet (12 m) in length, with some growing even larger. Within the intestine a bovine tapeworm also lays new eggs and if it is not detected, new populations grow and can live within a human host for up to 25 years.
As more parasites start crowding the small intestine, they start traveling to other parts of the body. Bovine tapeworm populations can invade the appendix and cause painful appendicitis and can even crawl into the extremities. When this happens, infected people commonly report a sensation of something crawling inside one of their limbs. As these parasites continue to proliferate, their presence can disrupt proper organ function and cause a variety of other problems. Normally, their presence is detected in the feces of a person harboring one or more Taenia saginata, or on examination for related symptoms.
The physical symptoms of Taenia saginata infection are rarely noticed, which is why these parasites live so long inside a host. When symptoms are noticed, however, most people complain of a feeling of fullness, loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, nausea, or may notice small eggs in the stool. Occasionally, individuals may experience a crawling sensation around the sphincter muscles. Once detected, ridding the body of Taenia saginata involves medications which are all known to kill the beef tapeworm within days.
Beef tapeworm infections are the most common tapeworm or tapeworm infection worldwide. They are more common, however, in areas where poor sanitation systems exist and where human feces are used to fertilize crops, which give cows greater access to human feces containing bovine tapeworm eggs. Cases of infection are also more evident in areas where beef is known to be eaten raw or undercooked, such as in Argentina and Ethiopia. Other animals such as sheep and buffalo can also be infected. Also, in areas where meat is not thoroughly inspected and larvae-filled cysts are not detected, people are more prone to foodborne illness and other parasitic diseases.
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