TAENIA SPP.: FORMS OF DETECTION BY LABORATORY TESTS

Resumo

The aim of this study was to highlight the diagnosis of Taenia solium and T. saginata. Cattle
and pigs are intermediate hosts of tapeworms, the etiological agents of taeniasis, an intestinal
parasitosis of humans, whose hermaphroditic adult worm is in the small intestine. It is known
as solitary and contact with the parasite is given through the ingestion of raw or undercooked
meat, which if contaminated will present the cysticerco larva. The cisticerco larva in raw meat
is known as canjiquinha. The adult worm of T. saginata can reach 12 meters, and that of T.
solium can be eight meters. They produce about a thousand proglottids in their half-life that
generate about 50 thousand eggs. However, tapeworm infection usually progresses with mild
symptoms, although there may be abdominal pain, nausea, weakness, weight loss, increased
appetite, diarrhea, and constipation. Laboratory diagnosis can be performed by visualizing
eggs and proglottids in the feces. However, the differential diagnosis between the two species,
Taenia solium and Taenia saginata, can be complicated at the level of microscopic
visualization of the eggs, since both species produce spherical eggs with a thick double shell,
brownish and with radial streaks, with an interior filled with the oncosphere or hexacanth
embryo, which has three pairs of aculeus or hooks. For the visualization of the proglottids, the
general or float method can be used. As for proglottids, they are difficult to visualize in the
feces, and clarification with acetic acid can be performed. Antibody and DNA tests are not
widely used, although they are available. ELISA coproantigen testing, although rare outside of
research laboratories, significantly increases sensitivity and is useful for confirming treatment,
particularly in endemic areas.