Taeniasis and Cysticercosis in Kenya-A Review

Abstract

Taenia saginata and Cysticercus bovis are two stages of the same tapeworm which inhabit as adult (T. saginata) the small intestine of man and as larvae or cysts (c. bovis) the skeletal, cardiac, tongue and other muscles of cattle. Man acquires infection only by eating poorly cooked or raw beef. Although other bovine species have been known to harbour the cysts the contribution of wild species towards the epidemiology of taeniasis is insignificant because man heavily depends on cattle for his proteins. Cattle acquire infection by ingesting grass or other feeds contaminated by human faeces containing ova of the tapeworm. Although prenatally infected calves have been described this route also is not important in the epidemiology of cysticercosis.