Spirometra is a genus of pseudophyllid cestodes that reproduce in canines and felines, but can also cause pathology in humans if infected.

[3] As an adult, this tapeworm lives in the small intestine of its definitive host and produces eggs that pass with the animal's feces.

[3] Humans can become infected if they accidentally eat frog legs or fish with the plerocercoid stage encysted in the muscle.

[3] Spirometra infections were first described by Patrick Manson from China in 1882, and the first human case was reported by Charles Wardell Stiles from Florida in 1908.

One of these species is Spirometra erinaceieuropaei, which is the main cause of infections in Europe and Asia, and rarely but sometimes in North and South America.

[5] The adult worm of Spirometra species live in the small intestine of the definitive host—a dog, cat, raccoon, or other mammal—for up to nine years, where they produce many eggs.

In paratenic hosts, plerocercoids migrate mainly to subcutaneous tissues from the small intestine, causing pain, edema, and inflammation.

Sparganosis usually appears as slowly growing migratory subcutaneous nodules in the tissues of infected intermediate and paratenic hosts.

To diagnose a Spirometra infection in humans, a serodiagnosis ELISA can be used to target anti-sparganum IgG antibodies within the blood.