Diphyllobothrium latum

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Diphyllobothrium latum

• Audra Spring

2
Review

• Known as the broad fish tapeworm
• Largest human tapeworm
• Parasitic to fish-eating mammals
• Lives in intestines and passed through feces into
  water
• Two intermediate hosts are crustaceans and fish

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Discovery Accounts

• Discovered by Linneaus in 1758.
• Preserved bodies in peat bogs in Poland and
  Denmark contained intestinal parasite eggs.
• Szidat found the Drobnitz Girl and the
  Karwinden Man in 1944 in East Prussia. Many
  parasites were found in the intestines, including
  Diphyllobotrium latum.
• The numbers of eggs recovered from the girl were
  correlated to the numbers of eggs in feces from
  rural populations in Prussia in 1939.

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Discovery Accounts

• Grzywinski investigated coprolites in the 1950s
  and 1960s from a domestic Slavic settlement
  located on an island in the River Odra in Poland
  and found Diphyllobothrium latum.
• Jansen Over reported a range of parasitic
  species from human fecal material in 1962 from
  material dated 100 BC to AD 500 in Germany. Eggs
  of many parasites were found, Diphyllobothruim
  latum among them.
• There are references to tapeworms in general in
  the Bible and other historical texts, but not to
  Diphyllobothrium latum specifically.

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Historical Development

• There are few medical records from the Middle
  Ages, but there are several references to worms.
  They were not usually seen as the cause of
  disease due to the cultural beliefs and lack of
  technology.
• Parasitology improved in the 17th and 18th
  centuries after science and scholarship gained
  popularity during the Renaissance. This is when
  Linnaeus made his discovery and the germ theory
  was proposed.

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Prevalence Migration

• Diphyllobothrium latum is mostly endemic in
  Europe and North America. It is found in
  Palearctic and Nearctic areas, such as freshwater
  lakes and streams of North America and the Great
  Lakes, as well as the Mediterranean and Baltic
  Seas.
• Diphylobothrium latum was introduced to North
  America by immigrants from Scandinavia and has
  been spread greatly by domestic dogs that are fed
  raw fish.

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Cultural Practices Infrastructure

• The use of lakes, ponds, and streams for waste
  disposal promote the spread of this parasite.
• The parasite is less prevalent today in areas
  where water is treated and sewage does not mix
  with water intended for consumption.
• However, the increased popularity of ethnic foods
  containing raw fish such as sushi in America has
  counteracted the improvements made in sanitation.

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Treatments Prevention

• Can be prevented by fully cooking fish or
  freezing them before cooking at 12C for no less
  than a day.
• May also be prevented by improved sewage systems
  so waste water does not mix with drinking water.
• Praziquantel is the drug of choice.
   Alternatively, Niclosamide can also be used to
  treat diphyllobothriasis.

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References

• lthttp//72.14.209.104/search?qcacheKbybTpIwOBQJ
  ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cbaresrep/pdf/043
  /04308001.pdfdiphyllobothriumlatumancientaccou
  ntshlenglusctclnkcd5gt
• lthttp//www.scielo.br/scielo.php?scriptsci_arttex
  tpidS0074-02762003000900016gt
• lthttp//www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fc
  gi?artid126866toolsbotgt
• lthttp//www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx/HTML/Diphyllobothrias
  is.htmgt
• lthttp//animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accoun
  ts/information/Diphyllobothrium_latum.htmlgt