ABSTRACT
Taeniasis is caused by the presence of adult cstodes or tapeworms in the intestines of humans and other mammals (primarily meat eaters). Taenia saginata (beef tapeworm) and T. solium (pork tapeworm) are the two classically known causes of taeniasis in humans. Cysticercosis is a tissue infection with a larval or metacestode stage of (cattle, humans, pigs). Larval stages of T. saginata occur only in beef and larval T. solium only in pigs and humans. Both T. saginata and T. solium are cosmopolitan tapeworm parasites with a high endemicity in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and some other countries, where humans and domestic animals live together under poor sanitary conditions and where raw/undercooked pork or beef is consumed (1). Because of the increase in tourism and immigration, taeniasis and cysticercosis have become widely disseminated worldwide. Estimated economic losses from medical care for neurocysticercosis, such as hospitalization, chemotherapy, 218neurosurgery, and radiological imaging, are great. It has been calculated that U.S. $14.5 million was spent in Mexico during 1980 to treat the 2700 new hospitalized patients (2). Because of the condemnation of infected carcasses at slaughter, more than U.S. $43 million was lost in 1980 in Mexico, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the total investment in pig production (2). In Africa, the loss to the cattle industry from T. saginata infection may be as high $1-2 billion per year.
