A 6-year-old child presents with passage of a proglottid in stool. Microscopy shows a proglottid with a uterus containing >13 lateral branches on each side. The most likely organism and risk of cysticercosis in this case is:

• A Taenia solium; significant risk of cysticercosis
• B Diphyllobothrium latum; risk of larval migration
• C Taenia solium; minimal risk since child has taeniasis not cysticercosis
• D Taenia saginata; no risk of cysticercosis ✓

Explanation

Taenia saginata proglottids have >13 lateral uterine branches (typically 15-20) compared to T. solium which has 7-13 lateral branches; this morphological difference distinguishes the species. Critically, T. saginata causes only intestinal taeniasis with NO risk of cysticercosis because cysticercosis results from ingesting T. solium eggs; cattle are the intermediate host for T. saginata and humans cannot become intermediate hosts for T. saginata. D. latum has a segmented proglottid with a central rosette-shaped uterus.

Reference: Ananthanarayan & Paniker's Textbook of Microbiology, 11th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.