In This Issue of NHT Newsletter Vol 11 No 2 Nov 4, 2015:
•From the Desk of Dr. Moffat: Black Friday Special is coming up!
•Case of the Month: Farm Critters
•Ask Dr. Moffat: Do I have a Tapeworm? (Warning—toilet pictures)
•Inspiration & Perspective: The Violinist
•What’s New at Our House? Family reunion, Apple cider, canning completed, bulbs planted, garden paths going in, Back to Eden Demo Plot
The beef tapeworm Taenea saginata can be up to 12 feet in length (see picture on the right) once it reaches adult stage. Here’s how this works: A cow or pig eats vegetation infected with the egg or proglottids (a piece of the tapeworm). One of the immature stages of the tapeworm embeds and migrates through the tissues of the animal. A human comes along and eats the undercooked or raw meat and the immature parasite matures in the intestinal tract of the human.
Tapeworms are flat like a ribbon, and made up of segments called proglottids. The proglottids contain between 50 to 60,000 eggs. As the tapeworm grows, the proglottids eventually break off and exit via the anus. Tapeworms live in the small intestine and they anchor into the intestinal wall by means of a scolex.