The broad or fish tapeworm of humans and other fish-eating mammals. Als o called Dibothriocephalus latum. Infection acquired by eating fish containing the infective plerocercoid (sparganum) larva. May be associated in humans with a megaloblastic (macrocytic) anaemia due to competition for Vitamin B12.
n. a genus of large tapeworms that can grow to a length of 3–10 m. The adult of D. latum, the broad (or fish) tapeworm, infects fish-eating mammals including humans, in whom it may cause serious anaemia (see diphyllobothriasis). The parasite has two intermediate hosts: a freshwater crustacean and a fish (see also plerocercoid).... diphyllobothrium