n. a genus of small widely distributed parasitic tapeworms. The dwarf tapeworm, H. nana, only 40 mm in length, lives in the human intestine. Fleas can be important vectors of this species, and children in close contact with flea-infested dogs are particularly prone to infection. H. diminuta is a common parasite of rodents; humans occasionally become infected on swallowing stored cereals contaminated with insect pests – the intermediate hosts for this parasite. Symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, and headache are obvious only in heavy infections of either species. Treatment involves a course of *anthelmintics.
n. a genus of fleas. The common rat flea of temperate regions, N. fasciatus, will, in the absence of rats, bite humans and may therefore transmit plague or murine typhus from an infected rat population. The rat flea is also an intermediate host for the larval stage of two tapeworms, *Hymenolepis diminuta and H. nana.... nosopsyllus
n. a genus of widely distributed *fleas. P. irritans, the human flea, is a common parasite whose bite may give rise to intense irritation and bacterial infection. It is an intermediate host for larvae of the tapeworms *Hymenolepis and *Dipylidium, which it can transmit to humans, and it may also be involved in the transmission of plague.... pulex
(cestode) n. any of a group of flatworms that have a long thin ribbon-like body and live as parasites in the intestines of humans and other vertebrates. The body of a tapeworm consists of a head (scolex), a short neck, and a strobila made up of a chain of separate segments (proglottides). Mature proglottides, full of eggs, are released from the free end of the worm and pass out in the host’s stools. Eggs are then ingested by an intermediate host, in whose tissues the larval stages develop (see plerocercoid; cysticercus; hydatid). Humans are the primary hosts for some tapeworms (see Taenia; Hymenolepis). However, other genera are also medically important (see Diphyllobothrium; Dipylidium; Echinococcus).... tapeworm
n. a genus of tropical and subtropical fleas, with some 40 species. The rat flea, X. cheopis, occasionally attacks humans and can transmit plague from an infected rat population; it also transmits murine typhus and two tapeworms, *Hymenolepis nana and H. diminuta.... xenopsylla
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