Norwich bulletin., 1915-07-27
BEEF TAeEwoRM FOUND
sN POLISH INFANT.
Or. 1T. cassidys Hare Case Reported
Z 10 A. N. A, journal,

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It has been the custom Of DR.. Louis
AZ. Cassidy OF this city 20 send to the
bureau Of animal industry at Washing
tom, with some Of the experts in which
he IL personally acquainted. specimens
OF Of parasites which ne encounters y nis
seemeuts OF the beeftape worm. proved
to be Of such unilsual scientific inter
est that Il was the basis Of paper
by Maurice c, Kali. Pa D. assistant
5oologist IN the bureau. 10 the week,
" Journal Of the American Medical
association. The title Of the article
Is Taenia Saginata, case presenting
structural abnorms1itjes and aSsoeiat~
ed with spurious parasttism In an In
FAINT. It 10 OF lay interest In throwing
feeding that obtain among~fhe unin-
formed even in this enlightened day.
The article follows;
Segments OF tapeworm sent IN to the
United States bureau Of animal indus
try by DR.. Louis T. Cassidy of NoF-
witch, Conn, were found on examination
to be Taenia sagfnata- Among the seq
ments was one presenting a meristtc
variation consisting in the unilateral
duplication OF the genital pore and
parently the formation OF O Tudinep-
tary genital pore alone on the side OF
the segment opposite the two pores
which are provided with canals. The
segment Is enlarged, being 20 nm, long
and e.s MN. wide. while an adjoining
segment is only Is mm- long and NM
wide. The uterine branching IL some
what diffuse and irregular, and the
eggs present some abnormal3f3es OF
shape and structure. An examination
OF a number OF eggs did not disclose
the presence of any developed hexa-
canth embFyos.
The tapeworm eegments were passed
by a Polish child said to be from II to
Is months old. This seems like a very
young age at which to be harbortng
tapeworms resulting from the eating
of UNDERGONE beef, and, as q matter Of
fact, such cases are rare. They are
perhaps to be attributed to the use OF
scraped raw beef. the treatment adyo-
Gated by Weiss in cases Of chronic
diarrhea. but as children are few in
many households on exactly the same
food as the adults. some OF these cases
may result from the ingesttop Of very
rare steak, roasts, etc.
Accompanying the tapeworm seq
ments from the infant was a beetle
larva, said TO have been passed at the
same time. which ! identified as Tene-
broides mauritRnicus, an Identification
which was confirmed by A. E. Schwartz
of the United States National museum.
This beetle is commonly found in cere-
ais, flour, old bread, etc, and is, of
course, not parasitic. 1t is frequently
sent in to entomoiogists. according to
Mr.. Schwartz. with a history Of being
passed in the feces- In such cases
there are two evident possibilities:
That the laFya is found in the feces as
| used or getting into the feces in some
such way after passages; or that the
| larva is ingested In food. such as
breakfast food, old bread, ETC., and
passes the digestive tract dead but un-
digested. It Is well known that various
dfptera. alive or dead, may pass
| through the aiimentary tract undigest-
ed, and there appears to be no reason
why the chitinous structure OF a col
| opterous larva should not resist di-
gestion equally we'll have collected
| such larvae from the stomach OF
rodents, Sciurus aberti minus, but OF
course these larvae had not been sub
Jeeted to the digestive action Of the
| entire alirnentary tract. There Is every
likelihood that the resistant undigest-
ible ehitinous structure would be UNI
broken in the case OF larva eaten by
a baby. 1t might also be noted that
the presence Of such a larva in the
feces fits in well with the carelessness
in regard to a chiid's diet which Is sug-
gested by the presence Of Taenia cagi-
| nata at such an early age.
The tapeworm most commonly found
in children is Hymeuolepis mana.
Hymenolepis diminuta has been found
in sucking infants. According to
Grimm. Taenia solium has been report
ed by Won Pardo in an infant months
old. Taenia saginata has been reported
by Comfy from an infant 8 months old
which had been fed raw beef Juice.
Westhof reports Taenia saginata from
an infant months old. and notes that
the child had been fed a half pound of
minced beefsteak daily. Two cases
have been reported in which tape
worms are recorded from children
days old. In one case, European. re-
corded by Mueller, the tapeworn, re-
ported as Taenia soljum, was said TO
be foot and a half long. In the other
case, reported for the Long Island hos
pital, New York, by Armor. gravid
segments OF Taenia solium are said
to have been passed after the admins
tration Of calomel following trismus
on the fourth day. No further evidence
of tapeworm was seen during the
child's first year. The mother of the
child was found to have q tapeworm.
Taenia solium. Reports Of cases of
tapeworm IN 5 day old infants must be
regarded as apparently due to error or
confusion of some sort.