When was tapeworm first discovered

Stools may be collected for 3 days after treatment to search for proglottids or scolices for species identification if necessary. Stools should be re-examined for Taenia eggs 1 and 3 months after treatment to be sure the infection is cleared. Both praziquantel and albendazole should be used cautiously in patients suspected to have cysticercosis. There are case reports of seizures that may have been temporally associated with treatment. Praziquantel and albendazole are not approved by the U.

Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of taeniasis. Praziquantel is pregnancy category B. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women.

However, the available evidence suggests no difference in adverse birth outcomes in the children of women who were accidentally treated with praziquantel during mass prevention campaigns compared with those who were not. In mass prevention campaigns for which the World Health Organization WHO has determined that the benefit of treatment outweighs the risk, WHO encourages the use of praziquantel in any stage of pregnancy.

For individual patients in clinical settings, the risk of treatment in pregnant women who are known to have an infection needs to be balanced with the risk of disease progression in the absence of treatment. Pregnancy Category B: Either animal-reproduction studies have not demonstrated a fetal risk but there are no controlled studies in pregnant women or animal-reproduction studies have shown an adverse effect other than a decrease in fertility that was not confirmed in controlled studies in women in the first trimester and there is no evidence of a risk in later trimesters.

Praziquantel is excreted in low concentrations in human milk. According to WHO guidelines for mass prevention campaigns, the use of praziquantel during lactation is encouraged. For individual patients in clinical settings, praziquantel should be used in breast-feeding women only when the risk to the infant is outweighed by the risk of disease progress in the mother in the absence of treatment.

The safety of praziquantel in children aged less than 4 years has not been established. Many children younger than 4 years old have been treated without reported adverse effects in mass prevention campaigns and in studies of schistosomiasis. For individual patients in clinical settings, the risk of treatment of children younger than 4 years old who are known to have an infection needs to be balanced with the risk of disease progression in the absence of treatment.

Niclosamide is in pregnancy category B. Data on the use of niclosamide in pregnant women are limited. Niclosamide is not thought to be systemically absorbed. Niclosamide should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. It is not known whether niclosamide is excreted in breast milk, although niclosamide is not thought to be systemically absorbed.

The World Health Organization WHO classifies niclosamide as compatible with breastfeeding, although data on the use of niclosamide during lactation are limited. The safety of niclosamide in children has not been established, although niclosamide is not thought to be systemically absorbed.

Available evidence suggests that the safety profiles are comparable in children 2 years or older and adults. Albendazole is pregnancy category C. Data on the use of albendazole in pregnant women are limited, though the available evidence suggests no difference in congenital abnormalities in the children of women who were accidentally treated with albendazole during mass prevention campaigns compared with those who were not.

In mass prevention campaigns for which the World Health Organization WHO has determined that the benefit of treatment outweighs the risk, WHO allows use of albendazole in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. However, the risk of treatment in pregnant women who are known to have an infection needs to be balanced with the risk of disease progression in the absence of treatment.

Pregnancy Category C: Either studies in animals have revealed adverse effects on the fetus teratogenic or embryocidal, or other and there are no controlled studies in women or studies in women and animals are not available. Drugs should be given only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus.

It is not known whether albendazole is excreted in human milk. Albendazole should be used with caution in breastfeeding women. The safety of albendazole in children less than 6 years old is not certain. Studies of the use of albendazole in children as young as one year old suggest that its use is safe. According to WHO guidelines for mass prevention campaigns, albendazole can be used in children as young as 1 year old.

Many children less than 6 years old have been treated in these campaigns with albendazole, albeit at a reduced dose. Contact Us. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. If you catch tapeworm from eating undercooked pork or beef, don't blame your dinner. New research suggests that the ancestors of modern humans caught these parasites about two million years ago, from the game they hunted on the plains of Africa -- and then passed them onto pigs and cattle while domesticating them about 10, years ago.

Two million years ago is "much, much earlier than anyone had previously thought", says Eric Hoberg, the parasitologist with the US Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland, who has reconstructed the evolutionary history of the tapeworm by studying the anatomy of many different species 1.

The finding that the ancestors of domestic cows and pigs caught tapeworms from us -- on three separate occasions -- and not the other way round, overturns 50 years of received wisdom, says Hoberg. Hoberg and his colleagues believe that their tapeworm family tree also shows us what early humans were eating, and when and where they were eating it. The closest relatives of the tapeworms that we now catch live in African lions and hyenas.

These top predators acquire their intestinal freeloaders from antelopes, where the tapeworms spend their youth. But the findings "might be open to different interpretations" warns Julia Lee-Thorp, an archaeologist at the University of Cape Town, who has studied the diets of prehistoric hominids.

For example, early humans and carnivores might have just lived in the same place, rather than eaten the same food. Large carnivores might even have caught their tapeworms from eating early humans -- "hominids were frequently the prey of large cats and hyenas", she adds.

There is evidence that early humans joined the carnivores' club about two million years ago. Some palaeontologists have suggested that a taste for meat, and the stone technology to catch and butcher it, was one of the things that distinguished the genus Homo from the older, more vegetarian Australopithecus. Out of Africa: origins of the Taenia tapeworms in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B , Article Google Scholar. Download references.

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Reprints and Permissions. Whitfield, J. Humans and tapeworm: a long story. Nature