Tapeworm: Difference between revisions

[[File:Tapeworm_scolex.jpg|left|250px]]  The tapeworm is a long(6m or 20 ft.), soft-bodied, legless invertebrate with bilateral symmetry.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapeworm#Body_Systems] They are made up of a knob-like head or scolex(where most of the sensory organs are located-cephalization), a short, unsegmented neck following the scolex, and multiple flat, rectangular body segments or proglottids forms the [[strobila]]. On the external surface of the scolex there are hooks or suckers that allow the tapeworm to latch onto the inside of a host's intestines where it lives for most of its adult life.[http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0861442.html] Adult tapeworms have no external cilia or flagellum. The worm's body covering consists of a thick tegument which protects it from the digestive juices of its host.(Porch, p458)

[[File:Proglottid_chain.jpg‎|left|250px]]  A tapeworm's life cycle starts as an egg(once contained in a proglottid) that has been excreted in a host's feces. Once eaten by the intermediate host the egg travels to the intestine where it hatches. The newly hatched larvae(in most species it has a fully developed scolex) than burrows into and through the intestine wall into an organ or the body cavity.  [http://animals.jrank.org/pages/1527/Tapeworms-Cestoda-BEHAVIOR-REPRODUCTION.html] The larvae stays in an organ(for example; the muscles, eyes, brain or almost any other organ of the body) of the intermediate host(which can be almost any vertebrate) until it is consumed by the [[final host]], though some species have multiple [[intermediate hosts]].(Porch, p458) Once it is eaten by the intermediate host it goes through the digestive system to the small intestine where the scolices of larvae attach. After attachment to the inside of the intestine the tapeworm starts producing proglottids and the [[strobila]](the bulk of the tapeworm's body) forms. After more development the proglotteds start producing eggs.[http://animals.jrank.org/pages/1527/Tapeworms-Cestoda-BEHAVIOR-REPRODUCTION.html] When fully matured a proglottid breaks off(a terminal proglotted) it is excreted in the host's feces.[http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0861442.html]

[[File:Tapeworm_life_cycle.jpg|left|250px]]  Tapeworms are [[parasitic flatworms]] meaning they spend their adult life inside of a host.[http://www.righthealth.com/Health/Tape%20Worms-s?lid=goog-ads-sb-8536643334] As an egg it stays on the ground or in the feces of the parent's host until consumed by the intermediate host. The egg passes through most of the digestive system, thus at that short stage of life their environment is the digestive tract of the intermediate host. Once they reach the small intestine they hatch and the larvae burrows through the intestine wall. The second environment which they stay is in an organ(the brain, muscles, eyes and nearly any other organ) in their intermediate host. The tapeworm's final environment is its final host where it stays in the small intestine.(Porch, p458)