UNCOMMON CESTODES

• Bertiella studeri

  • Adult parasites of monkeys, with a cysticercoid stage in mites.
  • Human infections involve ingestion of infected mites.
• Diplogonoporus grandis

  • Related to Diphyllobothrium, is a parasite of whales, and has been reported a number of times from Japanese patients, who probably acquired the infection through the consumption of raw anchovies or sardines containing the plerocercoid larva.
• Hymenolepis microstoma

  • Rodent tapeworm
  • Various insects serve as intermediate hosts for the tapeworm, and rodent and human infections follow the ingestion of insects containing cysticercoid larvae.
• Mathevotaenia

  • This intestinal tapeworm was described from a patient living in Bangkok, Thailand, following treatment with niclosamide.
  • The worms closely resembled Mathevotaenia symmetrica, a cosmopolitan intestinal tapeworm of rodents for which various insects serve as intermediate hosts.
  • The diarrhea associated with the infection resolved after anthelminthic treatment.
• Mesocestoides

  • Adult worms are intestinal parasites of various primates, carnivores, and birds of prey.
  • The infective metacestode stage (tetrathyridium) is found in the body cavity and tissues of reptiles, birds, and small mammals.
  • The species of Mesocestoides identified with human infection are M. variabilis and M. lineatus.
  • Treatment: Praziquantel
• Raillietina celebensis

  • A parasite of rats, this tapeworm has been reported in humans from Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, and French Polynesia.