Diphyllobothrium latum

Diphyllobothriasis

By : Hussein Wahhab Rabee

Classification

Pseudophyllidea
 Diphyllobothrium is a genus of tapeworm which
can cause Diphyllobothriasis in humans.
The principal species causing diphyllobothriosis is
Diphyllobothrium latum, known as the broad or fish
tapeworm, or broad fish tapeworm.
 Comparison between Pseudophyllidea and
Cyclophyllidea
Pseudophyllidea Cyclophyllidea

Scolex 2 slit-like sucking 4 cup-shaped suckers

(bothria) with or without hooks

Genital on the flat surface on the margin of the

pore of the segment segment

Intermediate 2 1
host
• Dibothriocephalus latus, or Diphyllobothrium latum is a fish
tapeworm

• Hosts and Intermediates : Freshwater fish and copepods

Definitive host: Humans and other vertebrates.

• infests humans and other mammals that eat fish, particularly

bears and dogs
• measuring 10 meters in length with 4000 proglottids *

• HABITAT: Small intestines

 Morphology
• The adult worm is composed of three segments:
* the scolex (head) * the neck * the lower body
scolex
• The scolex has two attachment organs called
bothria and no hooks
• SHAPE: Elliptical, spoon-shaped,
almond-shape.
• Location and appearance of
uterine structure, Central; rosett
• Mature segments are wider than they are long
positioned

• SHAPE: Rectangular, broader than long.

GENITAL PORE: Single, ventral.
UTERUS: Rosette-shape (highly visible).
TESTES: Minute spherical.
 Egg of D.latum

• Pale yellow and ovale in shape

• The typical size is from
55 to 75 µm by 40 to 55 µm
• Has an operculum(lid)
• A lid structure, referred to as an
operculum, consumes one end of
the egg.
• Contains amass of granulated yolk
cells surrounding an undeveloped
ovum
Diphyllobothrium latum
 Transmission
By ingesting the infective larva of D.latum which
is knowing as plerocercoid in raw or insufficiently
cooked freshwater fish
 plerocercoid

coracidium

infective stage :Plerocercoid procercoid

 Clinical symptoms
• Symptoms of diphyllobothriasis are generally mild,
and can include

Diarrhea
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
weight loss
Fatigue
Constipation
Discomfort
• Approximately four out of five cases are asymptomatic and
may go many years without being detected

• In a small number of cases, this leads to severe vitamin

B12 deficiency due to the parasite absorbing 80% or more of
the host’s B12 intake

• anemia can also lead to subtle demyelinative neurological

symptoms
 Diagnosis

* identifying proglottid segments

* characteristic eggs in the feces

• these simple diagnostic techniques are able to identify the

nature of the infection to the genus level, which is usually
sufficient in a clinical setting
• Dipylidiasis
• Dipylidium caninum
Classification
 This tapeworm is commonly found
throughout the world in dogs and cats.

 Rare in humans, occurring primarily in

infants and small children closely
associated with pets
• Morphology
• Adult - the adult is up to10- 70 cm in length
and 2-3 mm
• Scolex with retractable armed rostellum
and conical-shaped and has 4 suckers.
• Segments(stroblia) 200) segments ,diagnostic
feature
• (pumpkin-seed shape
 • Strobila made of oval proglottids with bilateral genital
pores . gravid segments :contain egg capsule, The
number of eggs can range from 5 to 30. egg similar to
egg of taenia spp. The larvae of D. caninum are known
as cysticercoids because the scolex is enclosed in a
fluid-filled cyst at this stage

Eggs - contained within packets

(up to 12 eggs/packet).
• Common name: Dog or cat tapeworm; double-
pored dog tapeworm
• Intermediate Host
Fleas & Lice (How do fleas get infected?)
- Cysticercoid larvae in hemocoel.
-Ingested by the Definitive host
• The definitive host (dog, cat, human) is infected by
ingestion of larvae within fleas. The worm develops
in the small intestine of the definitive host.

• In Humans
People can only be infected if they
swallow an infected flea
 Diagnosis
• The diagnosis is made by seeing the tapeworm
segments in the faeces. It looks like small grains
of “rice” on the surface of freshly passed faeces,
or sometimes it “crawls” out of the anus.
• Segment Squash
Oval segment
Egg Packets