Experimental Ingestion by Man of Cysticerci of Carnivore Tapeworms

Excerpt: Having experimentally eaten the larvae of dog tapeworms on two occasions, I undertook to look up the literature on this subject in connection with the ingestion of Cysticercus pisiformis to check the frequently quoted record of T. pisiformis from man. I find that there are more cases of the sort than I had supposed, so I have collected these cases in connection with a recent similar case of my own. Taenia pisiformis, under the name of T. serrata, has been recorded as a parasite of man by Vital ( 1874), who records, in effect, two cases. One was a case of intestinal taeniasis in a native Algerian, reported under the paragraph heading (translated) Two taenias in the digestive tract, one of which has the appearance of Taenia serrata. These tapeworms were collected post mortem. He states that one tapeworm was undoubtedly T. solium. The other was 1 meter long and 6 mm. broad, the segments attached in such fashion as to present a saw-toothed aspect. The thick rostrum was armed with hooks, and a single lateral genital pore was noted in the segments. There are no further data on this case