Can tapeworms only grow to 5-6 meters inside human intestines?

Question

I been researching tapeworms and it says they can grow up to 10 meters and stuff, is this only when they are within human intestines? or can they grow this big in animals as well?

Answer 1

The life cycle of a tapeworm starts with a human eating undercooked, infected meat. The tapeworm will then grow and release small packages of fertilized eggs and sperm. These packages are excreted by the host. If they happen to land in grass, for instance, the package will open. By that time, the tape worm eggs will have developed. The eggs are released onto the grass. If a cow were to eat that grass, the eggs would become larvae and burrow into the cow's muscle. If that cow was eaten without being cooked thoroughly, the whole cycle would start again.

According to Intestinal Cestodes, authors Craig and Ito 2007 suggest that the effects of cestodes are usually very minimal. Those who are infected often describe the following symptoms: abdominal discomfort and pain, cramps, colic, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, restlessness, vertigo, headache, tiredness, malabsorption, anorexia, muscular pain, vitamin deficiency, megaloblastic anemia, weight loss (or gain), intestinal blockage, jejunal perforation, appendicitis, pancreatitis, pseudo-incontinence, pruritis ani, rectal-flutters, spontaneous voiding of segments from the a**s, depression and psychosis . In the past, through self-infection of Taenia Solium (the pork tapeworm) there have been serious life-threatening infections of taeniais (also referred to as taeniosis) which increase the chances of neurocysticercosis .

A 100-foot tapeworm was found in the intestine of a whale captured off Catalina Island

Answer 2

Yes they can grow to be that big in a human.  They can grow that size or bigger in larger animals.

Answer 3

    The lab I worked in had one in a jar that was all of 33 meters long, came out of a woman during appendix surgery.