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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffYou may notice infection by checking your stool for parts of the adult tapeworm. But it's likely you'll need your doctor to check your stool or send samples to a laboratory for testing. A laboratory may use microscopic identification techniques to check for eggs or tapeworm segments in your feces. The lab may need to collect two to three samples over a period of time to detect the parasite, since eggs and tapeworm segments are released irregularly into the stool.
For tissue-invasive infections, your doctor may also test your blood for antibodies your body may have produced to fight tapeworm infection. The presence of these antibodies indicates tapeworm infestation. Certain types of imaging, such as CT or MRI scans, also may suggest the diagnosis.
