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The adult beef tapeworm is usually a whopping 15 to 30 feet long (4.5 to 9 meters) and lives in the small intestine. An infected person usually has only one or two worms. The tapeworms use their head, called the scolex, to attach themselves to the intestinal wall. They have 1,000 to 2,000 body segments, called proglottids, each containing 80,000 to 100,000 eggs.

The eggs can survive for months or years in the environment. When cattle or other herbivores (plant-eaters) eat egg-contaminated vegetation, the eggs hatch and burrow through their intestinal wall. The larvae * burrow into muscles and form fluid-filled cysts, which are protective capsules. If humans eat raw or undercooked beef containing cysts, the cysts develop over a 2-month period into adult tapeworms. Adult beef tape-worms can live for more than 30 years.

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Q: What are the 9 stages of the life cycle of the beef tapeworm?
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