In sonic countries in Europe hydatids are very prevalent. It is reported that the disease is endemic in Iceland to such an extent that one sixth of the population suffer from it. The cause may be found in the great number of dogs harbored by the Icelanders. Tania saginata is increasingly frequent in France, England, Italy, and Germany, as well as in Abyssinia, Senegam bia, Algeria, and the Cape Colonies, Syria, Si beria, the East Indies, and the Punjab. It is claimed by investigators that it (and not Tcenia solium) is the common tapeworm in North America, as well as in Brazil, Peru, and the Argentine Republic.
The presence of a tapeworm in the intestines may be suspected only from the occurrence of pieces of the entozodn in the dejecta, resembling flat segments of macaroni. But in most eases it gives rise to a series of anomalous symptoms, including vertigo, noises in the ears, impairment of sight, itching of the nose and anus, salivation, dyspepsia, and loss of appetite, colic, pains over the epigastrium and in different parts of the abdomen, palpitation, syncope, the sensation of weight in the abdomen, pains and lassitude in the linihs, and emaciation. In the treatment of tamia, prophylaxis is important. All meat must be so thoroughly cooked that the centre of each piece is subjected to great heat. Beef is the prin cipal host of the entozobn. Rare beef must therefore be avoided. The medicinal treatment consists in causing the patient to fast for twen ty-four hours and then administering the oleoresin of Filix urns (male fern), which must be followed by a brisk calomel purge. Santonin is also a reliable anthelmintie. The head must be sought in the excrement of the patient and medication must be repeated till the head is evacuated.
Tapeworms, although rare among horses and cattle, are common in dogs and sheep, causing irritability of the bowels, and an nnthrifty ap pearance. For dogs no remedy answers so well as powdered areea nut, of which 30 grains sulliee for a dog weighing abort 20 pounds. It is best given after ten or twelve hours' fasting, in a little soup or milk, and should be followed in a few hours by a dose of castor oil. Neither areea nor any of the approved remedies used in men prove effectual in sheep; and one of the best pre scriptions for them consists of 40 drops of oil of turpentine, a drain of powdered green vitriol, and an ounce of common salt, given mixed in a little milk or gruel, or, where their bowels are confined, in linseed oil. A daily allowance of linseed cake and sound dry food should likewise be given with the grass or roots, and pieces of rock salt left within the animal's reach.
Among other varieties of are Twain cucumcrina, which infests the dog and eat, and whose eystieereus is harbored by the Ilea ; Twain none, which is the smallest tapeworm found in man, and which is frequent in Egypt and Sicily; and Twnia diminuta, first seen in Italy, rarely found in man. The last named infests rats and mice, and its eystieereus inhabits caterpillars and certain of 'the Coleoptera. The largest tape worm, rare in America. but common in Central and Eastern Europe, is Boarioceplialus lotus. It is sometimes 25 feet long, nearly an inch broad and with 4000 joints.
Consult: Cobbold, Entozoa (London, 1864), and Parasites (London, 1879) ; Braun, Die thierischcn Parasites des Menschen (Wiirzburg, 1903).