Duration
The time between the uptake of the tapeworm eggs and the onset of the disease (incubation period) depends on the life cycle of the tapeworm. It takes weeks to months for a worm to fully develop and reproduce. Cattle and pig tapeworms can live up to 20 years. There is a fecal-oral risk of infection throughout the entire duration of the disease.
How do I treat a tapeworm infestation?
Treatment of tapeworm disease should be given in any case, even if they are considered harmless. The treatment varies depending on the tapeworm. Usually a drug therapy is sufficient and only in rare cases surgery is necessary.
The drugs used to kill the tapeworm are called anthelmintics. Examples are albendazole, mebendazole and praziquantel. For the porcine and bovine tapeworm, a single dose is often sufficient.
With the dangerous fox tapeworm, the drugs often have to be taken for a lifetime. If one family member is affected, all the others should also be checked and may have to be treated as well. In addition, some hygienic measures must be taken. These range from thoroughly washing your hands after each visit to the toilet to boiling off the towels and bed linen.
Tapeworm diet
Surely everyone has heard of it, with a tapeworm diet you can easily lose weight. The assumption is that the tapeworm uses the food it consumes itself. The assumption is that the tapeworm uses the food it consumes itself, that you do not gain any weight and that you can eat even more than before.
Of course, some people try to profit from this thesis and offer capsules with supposed tapeworm eggs. However, one should distance oneself from this diet and critically question it. At first it is unclear what is really hidden in the capsules, which alone can have very harmful consequences for health.
Even if the capsule could develop into a tapeworm, weight loss is not necessarily a must. So far there is no serious study to prove that the tapeworm diet works. It does more harm than good.