Animals Involved
People are definitive host; swine, occasionally other mammals, including people, are intermediate hosts
Known Distributions
Worldwide where swine are reared; most cases seen in Africa, Asia, Central and South America
Probable Means of Spreading
Ingestion of undercooked pork containing larvae causes taeniasis; ingestion of eggs (including autoinfection from adult worm in intestine) causes cysticercosis
Clinical Manifestations in People
Adult stage in intestine (taeniasis) mild or asymptomatic; cysticercosis usually asymptomatic for years until cysticercus becomes large or death of small cysticerci result in inflammation in CNS (seizures, other CNS signs) or infrequently in eye or heart; massive numbers in muscles can also be symptomatic