When cattle eats the eggs. The oncosphere hatches and activates under the influence of gastric and intestinal juices then penetrates the intestinal mucosa to reach the general circulation. The embryos will be disseminated throught out the body and develop in skeletal cardiac muscle, fat and organs, especially the muscles of heart and masseters, diaphragm and tongue. Usually cysticercus are spread throughout the musculature. It occurs in tissue capsule.
Man is infected by eating of raw or undercooked infected beef.
Gravid proglottids begin to pass by at about 100 days after infection. Cysticercus begin to degenerate at about 4 to 6 months after infection and by 9 months, a large number may be dead. However, a proportion of cysticercus can remain viable for a prolonged period following infection of neonatal calves. Prenatal infections have also been recorded, but are not common. Effect on Host For a human being in good health, there is little pathological effect due to a single tapeworm.