Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Dipylidium life cycle. Dipylidium caninum, also called the flea tapeworm, double-pored tapeworm, or cucumber tapeworm (in reference to the shape of its cucumber-seed-like proglottids, though these also resemble grains of rice or sesame seeds) is a cyclophyllid cestode that infects organisms afflicted with fleas and canine chewing lice, including dogs, cats, and sometimes human pet-owners ...
Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass being Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Cestodaria .
A flea can jump 60 times its length in height and 110 times its length in distance, equivalent to a 1.8 m (6 ft) adult human jumping 110 m (361 ft) vertically and 200 m (656 ft) horizontally. Rarely do fleas jump from dog to dog. Most flea infestations come from newly developed fleas from the pet's environment. [6]
Flea infestations can be not only annoying for both dogs and cats and humans, but also very dangerous. Problems caused by fleas may range from mild to severe itching and discomfort to skin problems and infections. Anemia may also result from flea bites in extreme circumstances. Furthermore, fleas can transmit tapeworms and diseases to pets.
The obligate intermediate host is primarily the cat flea, occasionally also the cat hair flea. The tapeworm members shed in the intestine leave the anus with the feces or by active migration. The eggs are ingested by the larvae of the insects, penetrate their intestinal wall and develop in the fat body to the fin stage (cysticercoid).
These tapeworms were mentioned in a play by Aristophanes as "hailstones" with Aristotle in the section about pig diseases in his book History of Animals. The cysts of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm were also well known in ancient cultures mainly because of their presence in slaughtered and sacrificed animals.
A pair of tapeworm proglottids. Taenia taeniaeformis is a parasitic tapeworm, with cats as the primary definitive hosts. Sometime dogs can also be the definitive host. The intermediate hosts are rodents and less frequently lagomorphs (rabbits). The definitive host must ingest the liver of the intermediate host in order to acquire infection. [1]
The human flea (Pulex irritans) – once also called the house flea [1] – is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum. It is one of six species in the genus Pulex ; the other five are all confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms . [ 2 ]