Five months ago, Mr. Zhou of Ruian, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, had frequent diarrhea after eating a five-year-old steak. After examination, it was found that Mr. Zhou's body may be parasitic on a worm. Yesterday, under the guidance of provincial and municipal disease control staff, Mr. Zhou took pumpkin seeds, betel nut soup and cathartic medicine, and discharged a 5.2-meter-long tapeworm.
How do insects get into their stomachs?
Mr. Zhou, 35 years old, is usually in good health and has no habit of eating raw meat. Taenia tumefaciens is mainly related to eating raw meat or fish. After thinking about it, what Mr. Zhou can think of is the five ripe steak that he ate in the western restaurant five months ago: the steak has blood, and the taste is much more fresh and tender than the usually fully cooked one.
Not long after eating the well-developed steak, Mr. Zhou found that he often had diarrhea from time to time. At first, he thought it was a bad stomach. Mr. Zhou didn't care much. Until the end of February this year, Mr. Zhou found that there was a section of white object more than 20 cm long in his feces, which looked like a bamboo Festival.
Mr. Zhou took the white "bamboo knot" to the hospital, but the hospital said it could not be checked. He was advised to go to the disease control department for relevant tests.
Ni Qingxiang, deputy director of the Institute of disinfection and vector control, Wenzhou Center for Disease Control and prevention, examined the white "bamboo" brought by Mr. Zhou under a microscope. The results showed that the "bamboo knot" is the pregnant segment of Taenia saginata, a huge intestinal parasite. The most likely way for Mr. Zhou to be infected with the parasite was the steak he had five months ago.
Some tapeworms can grow to eight meters
'raw steak contains cysticercus, the larva of Taenia, which can grow into adults six to eight weeks after entering the human body. According to Ni Qingxiang, Taenia solium can be divided into Taenia solium and Taenia saginata. The adult of Taenia solium can reach 2-4 meters, while Taenia saginata can grow to 4-6 meters, even 8 meters.
What are the consequences of infection with Taenia saginata? If it is Taenia saginata, it only exists in human intestines, which can cause diarrhea, emaciation and other symptoms. For a long time, it may also cause intestinal obstruction, intestinal bleeding and intestinal perforation. But if infected with Taenia solium, in addition to entering the intestines to become adults, it may also enter the brain, causing brain edema and increased intracranial pressure.
No matter what kind of Taenia, the worms in Mr. Zhou's body must be expelled as soon as possible.