A fully developed cysticercus is up to 20 x 10 mm. It will be infective after nine to ten weeks. Pigs are the main hosts of the metacestode. The cysticercus are found in the pig's masseters, heart, tongue and shoulder and will be disseminated throughout the body. Majority of cystscercus in pork would be viable.
Man can acts as an intermediate host or a final host.
Man is infected by eating raw or undercooked, infected pork. Man can also infected through auto-infection by reverse peristalsis of the intestine. The egg may develop in man's small intestine and become a adult worm, where it cause taeniasis. However, the cysticercus will develop in subcutaneous tissue and also brain and ocular tissue of man. In brain, the parasite develops and proliferates.