Tapeworms - parasite or symbiote?

Question

This is a serious question. I believe that if a person is in good health and well nourished a tapeworm will not cause any harm. A person who is undernourished will, of course, be harmed by the worm.
The worm lives in the small intestine and takes some of the food that is eaten to support itself.
If a person is obese through overeating, a tape worm would use some of the intake of food and there will be less absorbed by the person. This would be beneficial.

A little history. In the 20's or 30's there was a scam (?) perpetrated by unscrupulous persons. They advertised a 'slimming pill' which was guaranteed to make you loose weight. In fact the 'pill' was a capsule which contained a living tapeworm segment which, took up residence in the gut and grew - using some of the food that would otherwise be absorbed.
An elderly lady (90's) was interviewed on radio who had taken a 'pill', knew it was a worm, and had remained slim, active and in good health and would not part with it.

Answer 1

Very interesting question and explaination.You've obviously done some research on this,this is a field that I've been interested in for some time,are leeches a parasite,modern medicine is now using them as a means to help in the healing of humans,insects are used in the jungle to help aid the healing of wounds,fleas are essential in the lifestyle of the hedgehog,did it used to be the case that they also helped humans by blood letting?How many natural "parasites" are they that we in the modern world consider harmful to the human race?

Answer 2

There's more than one kind of tapeworm. One kind, found in undercooked pork was found responsible for an out break of brain cysts in South Africa. Another kind, found mostly in canines can pose dangers to humans if ingested because segments can find their way into the liver where they cause cysts that lead to cirrhosis.Most of the tapeworms I've seen advertised on-line as slimming pills come from tapeworms found in canines, although I'm not sure if the same ones.
Far too many dangers and possible complications for tapeworm to be a viable weight loss solution.
Tapeworms are parasites. Weightloss isn't a benefit if it also deprives you of essential nutrition.

Answer 3

No, because in a symbiotic relationship both organisms benefit from living off each other.

A person does not benefit from a tape worm, a healthy person would not be overweight and therefore would not naturally benefit from housing a tape worm for the purpose of slimming down.

Besides that, tape worms do not just float around in your digestive tract. They cause serious intestinal damage because they chew and anchor themselves to the intestine wall, which can over time cause bleeding and scar tissue, not to mention ulcers in the intestine.

Besides that, controlling a tape worm population is impossible, so long as you eat well enough you can house many tape worms, but when you stop eating enough they will cut into your personal nutrition and can cause serious mineral deficiencies, and health problems.

That woman must be insane or incredibly lucky. Just because she's alive and well does not mean that she's is healthy.

Its the most rediculous thing Ive ever heard.

Answer 4

parasites take from the host to the hosts detriment. hosts of parasites do not do well physically (and die if not treated) while the parasite thrives. most pregnancies are not like this. the baby takes what it needs from the mother but the mother survives, while hosts to parasites mostly do not. there are some pregnancies where a mother will not survive if she continues on with the pregnancy - I would consider these more of a parasitic relationship. a woman's job is to bear children too - if a baby was considered a parasite, that relationship wouldn't work, there wouldn't be any bond or care for the baby after it was born. if you go onto wikipedia and look up parasitic relationships, you'll find "commensalism", which I think is a more appropriate term for a mother and child relationship: In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is unaffected. There are three other types of association: mutualism (where both organisms benefit), competition (where both organisms are harmed), and parasitism (one organism benefits and the other one is harmed). Commensalism derives from the English word commensal, meaning "sharing of food" in human social interaction, which in turn derives from the Latin *** mensa, meaning "sharing a table". Originally, the term was used to describe the use of waste food by second animals, like the carcass eaters that follow hunting animals but wait until they have finished their meal.

Answer 5

In order to be a symbiote, it is necessary that the guest organism not just be harmless, but in fact actually be beneficial, and few would lay that attribute on tapeworms. Humans, termites, and no doubt many other species have microorganisms in the gut which help digest food; these fit the definition of symbiotic organisms.

Answer 6

Tapeworms are stricly parasites. in order to be symbiotic they would have to provide some benefit to the host organism. They do not.

Answer 7

it is a total parasite. your immune system attacks it all the time and is beaten back consistantly. also, worms can sometimes go through the intestinal walls and get into a hepatic duct and get spread into other parts of the body. when they affect other areas, they cause big problems.


bottom line, dont get a parasite for its 'health benefits.'

Answer 8

After i saw tapeworm in my toilet when i was a kid, I pretty sure I will not take this 'pill'. The tapworm I had was as long as a chopstick. And it looks like japanese wudo noodle.

Answer 9

wow.

and to think, i just dug all the worms out of the fish I caught while camping on a remote island! I could have put those in pills and sold them!

just joking.

I had that thought before.. but Im really not overweight so I dismissed it entirely.. :)

Answer 10

Its a parasite.