If you had a 2 metre Tape Worm

[Velvetee]

I'm watching The Bodysnatchers, where the presenter donates his body to science, to see what will happen. This episode features him swallowing a Tape Worm Larvae and living with it inside him for 10 weeks.

Apparently, they have the ability to crawl from the anus at night and wander about, before returning to their home. When he eventually took the parasitic Drug, to eradicate it from his body, it measured over 2 metres long.

I was wondering, if you just left the worm in the body, what would eventually happen, would the carrier eventually die? I presume the worm would continue to absorb all the nutrients and the carrier would become malnourished?

[Ice.Maiden]

Read this!

http://www.medical-look.com/Parasitic_diseases /Tapeworm.html

Tapeworms can grow up to 50ft in length - imagine that crawling out at night!!!

[Mr Veritas]

LOL @ Ice Maiden!
Ice the worms never leave the body as it's a nice warm place with plenty of food.Many are only the thickness of a thin shoelace,so don't actually take up much space in the Human/Animal host.

In the 1950's the great opera singer maria Callas decided that she was overweight,and didn't look good on the stage.
She went to a "quack" doctor who inserted a tapeworm into her.She lost 80lbs in one year!She then had to take a drug to kill the tapeworm.

In answer to Velvetee.
Yes,eventually the host (be it Human or Animal) with the tapeworm in would die.This is because the tapeworm would get most of the nutrition from the food.This is how you know pets have a tapeworm, they are ravenously hungry,but don't put on any weight.

[Velvetee]

Thanks. It's amazing to think a 50 foot worm could live in you. It's actually a wonder, what with alot of women desperate to be a size zero, that they don't intentionally have a worm implanted. Maybe there is a market for such a thing.

[CrazyCathy]

Ohh I never realised that you would eventually die - I suppsoe I didn't really think about it.

Sounds horrible though

[hc4361]

Maybe the side effects put people off
nausea, weakness, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain.
If the larva burrows through the intestine it will settle in other parts of the body, including the brain. It could lead to
blindness, seizures, pressure in the brain and scar tissue in the brain.
http://cks.library.nhs.uk/patient_information_ leaflet/tapeworm_infections

[mandimoo]

i dont think you would die. this is a parasite and by its very nature it relies on its host to keep it alive. it is not in the interest of the parasite to take so many nutrients that the host would die.

[Buenchico]

This might be of interest:
http://www.tapewormdiet.net/

Chris

[Ice.Maiden]

I know they don't really come out and crawl back in again, Mr. V - lol - but they CAN grow to a huge size, and the recipients often don't know they have the worms until they become very ill.
You're right, manimoo, the worms need the host in order to live, but although it's rare, a person CAN die from having them. They can cause anaemia, which if left untreated, could cause problems which might result in death. There are also other conditions which certain worms can cause, also leading to the same end.

[ParkChoi]

lol Velvetee. some are so desperate to lose weight i'm sure if they are aware that the tapeworm might help them, they will try it.

my neighbour told me this - she said many years ago when the chamber potty was common, while peeing in one her nephew pass out a long black worm. it was about ten inches long. i am curious to know if it came out of his penis or his butt. (poor thing died in an accident, i cannot ask him.)