Question: I was just wondering how a human tapeworm was introduced to the body in the first place. Also can you tell me about some common treatments?

Answer: Human tapeworms are usually ingested as larvae from undercooked meats. They are more common in less developed countries due to the lack of oversight in the food preparation industry, but they can also occur in more industrialized nations.

Tapeworms can grow to be extremely large. There have been recorded tapeworms that were fifteen feet long.

A tapeworm is typically found after the person goes to the doctor with complaints of hunger, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal discomfort. A CT, more commonly know as CAT, scan is done and this will show the tapeworm.

The tapeworm can be removed in a variety of ways. The most common is an oral medication that the tapeworm cannot tolerate, but tapeworms have also been irradiated or removed surgically.

Tapeworms do not usually cause lasting damage, but they can if left untreated for long enough. They can cause polyps to form on certain organs which have to be surgically removed. In some cases the damage to the organs is so severe that a transplant is needed, but this is very rare.

Human tapeworms are a serious, but manageable medical problem. We hope this information has been useful to you, but if you have further questions just let us know.