Ever heard someone say, "He's so skinny he must have a
tapeworm"? Tapeworms may seem like a joke to some people, but
they can be a real problem in parts of the world. In fact, a
worm that can grow to more than 30 feet long, lives in your
intestines, and eats your digested food probably seems more sci
fi than comedy. Here's what you need to know about tapeworms and
how to keep yourself from getting one. What Is a Tapeworm?
Tapeworms are flat worms that live in a person's digestive
tract. They can grow to more than 33 feet (10 meters) and live
as long as 25 years. Tapeworms are parasites. As you probably
know from biology class, parasites are organisms that live in,
or on, other organisms (called "hosts"). Parasites take their
nutrients from the host, sometimes depriving the host of
nutrition. Tapeworms get into the body when a person eats or
drinks something that's infected with a worm or its eggs. Once
inside the body, the tapeworm head attaches to the inner wall of
the intestines. The tapeworm feeds off the