How Common Is Tapeworm

How Common Is Tapeworm ?

You may have heard of some people getting tapeworm infection and this may cause you to ask how common is tapeworm. In the United States, tapeworm infection is on the rise. This is according to the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health experts are now finding tapeworms in US born residents more often than before. But, they still feel that immigrants coming from countries like Mexico, Central America, Africa, East Asia and South Asia are still primary hosts of tapeworms in the US.

Of late, tapeworm infections have been reported in New Mexico, New York and California. These are states that have high numbers of immigrants. There around 6 different types of tapeworms that can infect humans and it has been seen that pork tapeworm is one of the most common tapeworms to infect humans. Pork tapeworm infection occurs in countries where pigs are allowed to ingest contaminated water and human feces and the infection is passed on to humans when they eat undercooked pork.

A tapeworm requires two different species to complete its life cycle. For instance, the beef tapeworm requires cattle to allow its eggs to grow into embryos and then a human to allow the embryo to grow into an adult so it can produce more eggs.

In the United States, the most common tapeworm is the dwarf tapeworm. In a study, it was found nearly 4 percent of school children in rural southeast United States have dwarf tapeworm infection. This tapeworm is smaller than other types of tapeworms and is around 1 to 1.5 inches in length. The transmission occurs through the fecal oral route when one infected person comes in contact with another un-infected person.

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