A Tale of the Tapeworm: Parasite ploy suggests drug-delivery tactic

For the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta, heaven is a rat’s intestines. A single, nearly foot-long parasite can live there for years. It’s no wonder then that the tapeworm has developed means for keeping itself lodged within an often undulating mammalian gut.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have now identified one of the parasite’s tools: A chemical that it secretes slows intestinal pulsations.