PROBLEM 4. How We Attempt to 



Suckers Hooks 



^iXvv^ 



Fig. 314 The tapeworn? is an ugly -looking visi- 

 tor. It is easy to get rid of, however. How 

 does it cling to its host? 



mature worm being responsible for about 

 10,000 young. They burrow and find 

 their way into the muscles, particularly 

 the muscles of the diaphragm, tongue, 

 and eyes. Here they come to rest, caus- 

 ing great pain and fever. There is no 

 known cure for trichinosis. In this coun- 

 try there is federal inspection of meat 

 sent from one state to another, but in 

 general there is little inspection for this 

 parasite. Fortunately, the young worm 

 in the pork dies if kept in cold storage 

 for several weeks. But our only real 

 safety lies in very thorough cooking of 

 pork and pork products. The pig seems 

 to get the worm mostly from eating in- 

 fected pork scraps in garbage. 



Stop the Spread of Disease 355 



The tapeworm. The parasite of which 

 you have projably heard most often is 

 the tapeworm, one of the flatworms. 

 There are many species which can live 

 in man. The tapeworm has a larval staae 

 which lives in the flesh of various ani- 

 mals, most frequently the pig, sometimes 

 in beef. Freshwater fish also have been 

 known to transmit one species of tape- 

 worm to man. The larva, having entered 

 the human body, fastens itself to the wall 

 of the intestine by means, of the hooks 

 and suckers on its head. See Fic^ure 314. 

 There it stays, absorbing the digested 

 foods by which it is surrounded. It 

 grows and as it grows it produces more 

 and more segments filled to bursting 

 with eggs ready to hatch into new larvae. 

 These segments break off and leave 

 the body with the excretions. If the 

 parasites are then eaten by a pig, they 

 bore through its intestinal tract into the 

 muscles. From this infected pig they may 

 in time again reach man. While in man's 

 digestive tract, the worm uses up the 

 food needed by the host. This may be a 

 considerable amount of food, for the 

 tapeworm is large; it may grow to a 

 length of twenty feet. Tapeworms do 

 only slight damage to the intestinal wall, 

 and a person may live for some time 

 without even being aware of the para- 

 site. They are easy to get rid of with 

 drugs. To keep from getting a tape- 

 worm, you should see that pork and 

 beef are thoroughly cooked. Community 

 help is needed in providing for education 

 and proper meat inspection. 



A new science. The scientific study of 

 epidemics (epidemiology) is a new sci- 

 ence. In laboratories in London, New 

 York, and elsewhere, research workers 



