668 THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



In a large number of cases, disturbances of the intestinal tract 

 set in, e.g., sense of pressure in the abdomen, which sometimes 

 becomes constant on one and the same side, or sometimes 

 changes, now at the umbilicus and again at the epigastrium ; here 

 and there colicky pains are present. Derangements of appetite and 

 digestion are frequently complained of ; the most frequent are the 

 sensations of morbid hunger or irregular appetite, nausea and 

 vomiting. Thus, at the Third Congress of Internal Medicine, 

 Senator recorded a case in which there were symptoms of nervous 

 dyspepsia, cured after a successful vermifuge. There is either 

 constipation or diarrhoea, so that many of such patients are brought 

 for treatment with the diagnosis of " chronic intestinal catarrh " and 

 correspondingly treated. As to the treatment of toxic action of the 

 Taeniae when such arises, see the special section on the subject 

 (bothriocephalus anaemia, p. 644). The frequent disturbances of the 

 general condition, so-called reflex phenomena, so far as the action of 

 toxic substances is not in question, may be explained by the fact of 

 their occurrence in specially sensitive individuals who are affected by 

 such phenomena. The proof that a diseased condition is produced 

 by a tapeworm will be forthcoming with some degree of certainty 

 if the symptoms cease immediately after the removal of the parasites. 

 As a whole series of troubles, which certainly have nothing to do 

 with them, are erroneously ascribed to the tapeworm, as is frequently 

 assumed, one will do well to be somewhat critical in this respect. 



The treatment is of a threefold nature : prophylactic, symptomatic 

 and radical. 



Under any circumstances, the best prophylaxis is that which 

 consists in only eating the flesh of those animals in which any of the 

 three larval forms occur (pig, cattle, salmon, pike, burbot, etc.) 

 so prepared that the larval forms have been destroyed and the food 

 thus rendered innocuous. For domestic and public use the rule 

 prescribed by Kiichenmeister is under all circumstances most easily 

 understood, namely to roast or boil till the flesh appear greyish- 

 white and sufficiently done by reason of the coagulation of the 

 albumen and decolorization of the blood. The general prophylaxis 

 simply concerns the tapeworm carriers trying to limit as far as 

 possible the further extension of the parasites in the animal world 

 by carefully rendering the expelled segments and worms harmless 

 (pouring sulphuric acid over the faeces and burning the worms) and 

 also by strictly adhering to official regulations. The official system 

 of meat inspection in this respect has been of immense service, and 

 much can still be done by means of thorough official control over 

 cleanliness in abattoirs and butchers' shops. Galli-Valerio 1 very 



1 Galli-Valerio, Thcrap. Monatsh., 1900. 



