Transmission of taeniid tapeworm eggs via blowflies to intermediate hosts

Experiments showed that dead blowflies containing eggs of Taenia hydatigena can transmit infection if ingested by lambs during grazing. Rabbits became infected with T. pisiformis after grazing grass exposed to blowflies that had been in contact with dog faeces containing the eggs of this parasite. When captive blowflies were exposed first to dog faeces containing proglottids of T. hydatigena and then to cooked meat, 100% of pigs fed on this meat became infected. The experiments are intended to model the transmission dynamics that result in human larval tapeworm infections. The implications of the results to the epidemiology of human hydatid diseases caused by Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis as well as of T. solium cysticercosis are discussed.