1. A band-like anatomical structure.
2. A tapeworm; especially one of the genus Taenia.

A common tapeworm of dogs, foxes, and other carnivores; the larval form is Cysticercus pisiformis.

The beef tapeworm which is considered to be the most common of the big tapeworms that parasitizes people, contracted from infected raw or rare beef.

It can grow to be 12-25 feet (3.6-7.5 m) long in the human intestine. Also known as the African tapeworm.

The pork tapeworm, a parasite of the human intestine.

Contracted from eating undercooked or "measly pork" (pork infected with the larval forms of the tapeworm).

Taenia solium causes two different diseases: taeniasis and cysticercosis.

Taeniasis develops when the adult tapeworm infests the human intestine.

• The worm can grow to be 3-6 feet (0.9-1.8 m) long there.
• It usually causes no symptoms but the host becomes a continuous source of taenia eggs in the feces which may contaminate food.

Cysticercosis develops when people (or pigs) eat food contaminated with taenia eggs.

• The eggs cross the digestive tract, enter the circulation, and lodge in the tissues (usually the brain or muscles).

The life cycle proceeds as humans ingest undercooked pork containing the cysticercus (larva); at which time the worm emerges and anchors in the intestinal wall, and the worm grows, and becomes a new and continuous source of contamination.