Parasitology Special Interest Group

19/07/2026

Echinococcus granulosus is a taenid tapeworm in the order Cyclophyllidea. It lives as an adult parasite in the small intestine of its definitive host – the domestic dog and other Canidae. It is one of the smallest cestodes, measuring 5 mm in length. The strobila consists of a scolex and three segments.

📸 Adult of Echinococcus granulosus. Note suckers and hooks on scolex. The worm is 5.5
mm long.

Page 372 📕 Parasitic Diseases, Eighth Edition

Download a copy for free! parasiteswithoutborders.com/books

19/06/2026

Experts are often contacted by people ‘convinced’ they have a prolonged, undiagnosed parasitic infection

11/06/2026

13/05/2026

Download the web resource PARA-SITE: an electronic guide to parasitology https://parasiteguide.com/

Produced as an educational initiative of the Australian Society of Parasitology (ASP), The University of Queensland (UQ), and the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). Developed and written by Professor Peter O’Donoghue, Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

PARA-SITE provides basic information about parasites causing disease in animals and people. It covers information on:

parasite morphology (fundamental to taxonomy);
host range (species specificity);
site of infection (tissue/organ tropism);
parasite pathogenicity (disease potential);
modes of transmission (spread of infections);
differential diagnosis (detection of infections); and
treatment and control (cure and prevention).
The resource is available on-line through the website