RT Book, Section A1 Langston, Shannon M. A1 Bales, Brian D. A2 Knoop, Kevin J. A2 Stack, Lawrence B. A2 Storrow, Alan B. A2 Thurman, R. Jason SR Print(0) ID 1181051272 T1 Cysticercosis T2 The Atlas of Emergency Medicine, 5e YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw-Hill PP New York, NY SN 9781260134940 LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1181051272 RD 2024/03/28 AB The larval form of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium causes cysticercosis and affects 50 million people worldwide. Disease in developed countries is usually due to immigration or foreign travel. Taeniasis (intestinal tapeworm) is acquired from ingesting cysts from undercooked pork. Eggs passed in the stool from these carriers are highly infectious and may survive in the environment for months. Humans acquire cysticercosis from the ingestion of these eggs/larva, usually through unhygienic food preparation. Once the eggs are consumed, they hatch, penetrate the bowel wall, and travel to the subcutaneous tissue, skeletal muscle, and brain, though they may involve any organ. Two distinct types of diseases exist: neurocysticercosis (which can be parenchymal or extraparenchymal) and extraneural cysticercosis. Symptoms are dependent on the affected organ system; significant morbidity is associated with ocular, cardiac, and neurologic involvement. The larval worm will eventually die and leave calcified lesions.