Tags: Disease.
Sparganosis is a parasitic infection caused by the plerocercoid larvae of diphyllobothroid tapeworms belonging to the genus Spirometra. First described by Manson in 1882 the infection is transmitted by ingestion of contaminated water ingestion of a second intermediate host such as a frog or snake or contact between a second intermediate host and an open wound or mucus membrane. Humans are the accidental hosts in the life cycle while dogs cats and other mammals are definitive hosts.