| Diphyllobothrium | |
|---|---|
| |
| Proglottids of D. latum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Class: | Cestoda |
| Order: | Diphyllobothriidea |
| Family: | Diphyllobothriidae |
| Genus: | Diphyllobothrium Cobbold, 1858 |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Cordicephalus Wardle, McLeod & Stewart, 1947 | |
Diphyllobothrium is a genus of tapeworms which can cause diphyllobothriasis in humans through consumption of raw or undercooked fish. The principal species causing diphyllobothriasis is D. latum, known as the broad or fish tapeworm, or broad fish tapeworm. D. latum is a pseudophyllid cestode that infects fish and mammals. D. latum is native to Scandinavia, western Russia, and the Baltics, though it is now also present in North America, especially the Pacific Northwest. In Far East Russia, D. klebanovskii, having Pacific salmon as its second intermediate host, was identified.[1]
Other members of the genus Diphyllobothrium include D. dendriticum (the salmon tapeworm), which has a much larger range (the whole northern hemisphere), D. pacificum, D. cordatum, D. ursi, D. lanceolatum, D. dalliae, and D. yonagoensis, all of which infect humans only infrequently. In Japan, the most common species in human infection is D. nihonkaiense, which was only identified as a separate species from D. latum in 1986.[2] More recently, a molecular study found D. nihonkaiense and D. klebanovskii to be a single species.[3]
- ^ Muratov, IV; Posokhov, PS (1988). "Causative agent of human diphyllobothriasis--Diphyllobothrium klebanovskii sp. n.". Parazitologiia. 22 (2): 165–70. PMID 3387122.
- ^ Yamane, Y; Kamo, H; Bylund, G; Wikgren, BJ (1986). "Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense sp. nov (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidae)---revised identification of Japanese broad tapeworm". Shimane J Med Sci. 10: 29–48.
- ^ Arizono, N; Shedko, M; Yamada, M; Uchikawa, R; Tegoshi, T; Takeda, K; Hashimoto, K (2009). "Mitochondrial DNA divergence in populations of the tapeworm Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense and its phylogenetic relationship with Diphyllobothrium klebanovskii". Parasitology International. 58 (1): 22–8. doi:10.1016/j.parint.2008.09.001. PMID 18835460.