Taenia asiatica, commonly known as Asian taenia or Asian tapeworm, is a

parasitic tapeworm of humans and pigs. It is one of the three species of Taenia
infecting humans and causes taeniasis. T. asiatica was discovered when
tapeworms and the eating habits of hosts in South Korea.
T. asiatica causes intestinal taenisis in humans and cysticercosis in pigs. 
Taenia asiatica is a recently described species known to cause intestinal teniasis in
humans and cysticercosis in animals. This species has close morphological
resemblance to Taenia saginata and has a life cycle resembling Taenia solium,
hence has been posing diagnostic dilemma and had been the reason for its
comparatively late discovery.
T. asiatica has been identified to parasitise human intestinal lumen in eight Asian
countries i.e. China, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and
Japan, with the prevalence being as high as 21% causing significant economic
burden. [3]
Discovered only in 1980s from Taiwan and other East Asian countries as an
unusual species, it is so notoriously similar to Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm,
It was in 1993 that two Korean parasitologists, Keeseon S. Eom and Han Jong Rim,
provided the biological bases for classifying it into a separate species.[1]
Pigs are the intermediate hosts for T. asiatica. Humans are infected by eating
cysticerci (larvae) in raw or undercooked pork. After ingestion, the cysticerci
mature into adult worms in the small intestine of humans.

Taeniasis is usually characterized by mild and non-specific symptoms. Abdominal

pain, nausea, diarrhoea or constipation may arise when the tapeworms become
fully developed in the intestine, approximately 8 weeks after ingestion of meat
containing cysticerci

Infection can be prevented by cooking whole cuts of meat to ≥ 63° C (≥ 145° F) as

measured with a food thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat, then
allowing the meat to rest for 3 minutes before carving or consuming. Ground
meat should be cooked to ≥ 71° C (≥ 160° F). Ground meats do not require a rest
period.