Beef Tapeworm

• GeneralIt can exceed 10 m in length, hooked to the gut by its scolex.
• It has no mouth and no gut: it absorbs already-digested nutrients directly through its tegument, which is covered in microvilli like those of its host's intestine.
• Its body is a chain of segments called proglottids; those at the far end, loaded with tens of thousands of eggs, detach and leave with the faeces under their own power.
• It anchors itself with a minute head, the scolex, furnished with four suckers but no hooks, a detail that distinguishes it from the far more dangerous pork tapeworm.
• It can exceed ten metres in length inside the intestine, and live there for more than twenty years.
• It has no mouth and no digestive system: it absorbs already-digested nutrients directly through its body surface, which is covered in microvilli.
• Its body is a chain of segments called proglottids, each with a complete reproductive system of its own. Those at the end, loaded with eggs, break off and pass out in the faeces.
• Unlike the pork tapeworm, it does not cause cysticercosis in humans: its larvae encyst only in cattle.
• It is contracted by eating raw or undercooked beef, and veterinary inspection of carcasses is the main barrier.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - no rigid skeleton (hydrostatic skeleton)

Habitat and environment

A parasite: the human gut and the muscle of cattle

Litter / clutch size

Up to 100,000 eggs per proglottid

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Taenia saginata