Hymenolepis diminuta

diseases
• Rat tapeworm infection
• Adult worm is 10 to 60cm x 3 to 5mm,larger than
H. nana and has 800 to 1000 proglottids
• The club-shaped scolex has a rudimentary apical
unarmed rostellum and four small suckers
• The mature proglottids,0.8 x 2.5mm resemble
those of H. nana.
• The grvid proglottid contains a saccular uterus
filled with egg masses
• The egg differs from H. nana by the absence of
polar filaments on the inner membrane
• The principal intermediate hosts are the larval
rat and mouse fleas and the adult meal worm
beetle
• In these insects the hatched embryo develops
into a cercocystis that when ingested by a
natural definitive host becomes a mature
adult in about 18 to 20 days
• Humans are infected accidentally by food or
hands contaminated with infected insects
 diagnosis
• Eggs in stool
 treatment
• Praziquantel
• niclosamide