Differentiating Taenia solium and Taenia saginata Infections

Question

I have been told that both are spread by pigs and cattle, respectively. I would like to know the complications caused by Taenia solium and Taenia saginata. Also elaborate how dangerous is one as compared to the other, as well as preventive measure.

I googled , and found no relative comparison between these two.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Taenia solium is more dangerous:

T. saginata is relatively innocuous, since only the intestinal tapeworm phase occurs in man, whereas infection with T. solium has major health effects due to extraintestinal infection by the larval or cyst phase in the CNS [1].

The most feared complication of Taenia solium is cysticercosis. Taenia saginata can lead in extreme cases to intestinal obstruction.

Preventive measures:

• improved hygiene
• adequate thermal processing of meat [2]
• preventing contamination of animals (pigs and cattle) [3]

Differential diagnosis:

• PCR [1, 4]
• Hematoxylin-Eosin Staining [1]

---

References:

1. Mayta H, Talley A, Gilman RH, Jimenez J, Verastegui M, Ruiz M, Garcia HH, Gonzalez AE. Differentiating Taenia solium and Taenia saginata infections by simple hematoxylin-eosin staining and PCR-restriction enzyme analysis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2000 Jan;38(1):133-7. PubMed PMID: 10618076. Cited text is from full text article available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC86038/
2. Wikipedia contributors, "Taenia saginata," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taenia_saginata&oldid=618599196 (accessed July 28, 2014).
3. Wikipedia contributors, "Taenia solium," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taenia_solium&oldid=618599210 (accessed July 28, 2014).
4. Luis Miguel González, Estrella Montero, Leslie J. S. Harrison, R. Michael E. Parkhouse, and Teresa Garate. Differential Diagnosis of Taenia saginata and Taenia solium Infection by PCR. J. Clin. Microbiol. February 2000 vol. 38 no. 2 737-744