| Life cycle of Taenia solium, the pig tapeworm. Eggs are shed and ingested by a pig. If they are ingested by a human, the larvae mature in the brain, liver, muscles, and heart, and bring on a quick death. The larve burrows through the wall of the gut in the pig and develops in the muscle tissue forming a an encapsulated cysticercus. If infected pork is insufficiently cooked before it is eaten, the cysticercus everts its “head” in the small intestine, attaches to the intestinal mucosa with the scolex and begins to develop proglottids, which contain eggs. |
