A 43-year-old Tibetan woman living in northwest Sichuan, China, confirmed to be
a taeniasis carrier of Taenia solium was treated with pumpkin seeds combined with Areca
nut extract in October 2009. All 20 tapeworms except one without scolex were expelled
under good conditions. She was free of secondary cysticercosis within one year follow up.
Although the first choice for treatment of taeniasis is still praziquantel, it may often cause
serious side effect on asymptomatic cysticercosis cases to suddenly become symptomatic
within a half day of the treatment. Therefore, the problems in treatment of taeniasis and/or
cysticercosis in Asia are briefly overviewed, since other platyhelminthic diseases including
schistosomiasis, opisthorchiasis etc. are more common and praziquantel is strongly
recommended for mass treatment of these trematodiases with no idea on the co-infection
with eggs of T. solium which cause asymptomatic cysticercosis.
