It is a remarkable circumstance that, at least as regards Central Europe, C. bovis in the ox, after natural infection, was so seldom found that almost every case was published as a rarity; whereas the Tænia is very frequent in man. The reason for this is that in Germany cattle are not severely infected, and that the small, easily dried-up cysticerci easily escape notice in the large body of the host. Hertwig, the late director of the town cattle market in Berlin, in 1888, pointed out that the cysticercus of the ox is found chiefly in the musculi pterygoide externi and interni, and since that time a far greater number of infected oxen have been found in Berlin.
| Year | Number of oxen slaughtered | Infected | Proportion |
| 1888–89 | 141,814 | 113 | 1 : 1,255 |
| 1889–90 | 154,218 | 390 | 1 : 395 |
| 1890–91 | 124,593 | 263 | 1 : 474 |
| 1891–92 | 136,368 | 252 | 1 : 541 |
| 1892–93 | 142,874 | 214 | 1 : 672 |
Since 1892 an increase has taken place in the number of oxen infected with cysticercus, but this is probably attributable to the more general and searching examinations. In the slaughter-houses of Prussia the number of infected beasts was as follows:—
| 1892 | 567 |
| 1893 | 686 |
| 1894 | 748 |
| 1895 | 1,143 |
| 1896 | 1,981 |
| 1897 | 2,629 |
The condition was most frequent in Neisse (3·2 to 4 per cent.), Eisenach (1·91 per cent.), Ohlau (1·57 per cent.), Oels i. Schles. (1 per cent.), Marienwerder (0·34 to 1·2 per cent.). The flesh of oxen only slightly infected (containing not more than ten living cysticerci) is sold in pieces of not more than 5 lb. to consumers after having been rendered innocuous by cooking, or by pickling for twenty-one days in 25 per cent. salt brine, or hanging for twenty-one days in suitable refrigerators; oxen in which only one cysticercus is found are allowed free commerce, and those strongly infected (i.e., containing more than ten living cysticerci) may only be used for industrial purposes.
It is a striking fact that more bulls than cows are infected (according to Reissmann, in Berlin, from 1895 to 1902, 0·446 per cent. bulls, 0·439 per cent. oxen, and 0·262 per cent. cows), the explanation of which, according to Ostertag, is that most oxen are killed when young, when also infection most readily takes place, and, further, that the larva later on in life can be completely atrophied.
The cysticercus of the ox has hitherto been found in man on very rare occasions. Arndt (Zeitschr. f. Psychiat., xxiv) mentions a case in the brain, Heller in the eye, and Nabiers and Dubreith also in the brain (Journ. méd. Bordeaux, 1889–1890, p. 209); but the diagnoses are not quite certain, as absence of hooks occasionally occurs in Cysticercus cellulosæ.
Tænia saginata is the most frequent tapeworm of man (with the exception of Dibothriocephalus latus in a few districts), and the parasite is widely distributed over the surface of the globe; it has been known in the East for ages, so far as data are available; it is frequent in Africa, America, and Europe. Its frequency has perceptibly increased during the last few years, but a decrease should soon take place in consequence of the extent and improvement of the official inspection of meat.
The following table shows the relative frequency of the Cestodes of man:—
Author | Year | Number of | T. saginata | T. | Dibr. | Dipyl. | Unde- | ||
| Parona (Milan) | 1899 | 150 | 121 | 11 | 4 | — | 14 | ||
| Parona (Italy) | 1868–99 | 513 | 397 | 71 | 26 | — | 19 | ||
| Krabbe (Denmark) | 1869 | 100 | 37 | 53 | 9 | 1 | — | ||
| " " | 1869–86 | 200 | 153 | 24 | 16 | 8 | — | ||
| " " | 1887–95 | 100 | 89 | — | 5 | 6 | — | ||
| " " | 1896–1904 | 50 | 41 | 1 | 5 | 3 | — | ||
| Blanchard (Paris) | 1895 | ? | 1,000 | 21 | — | — | — | ||
| Stiles (United States) | 1895 |  | more than | more than |  | — | 3 | — | — |
| Schoch (Switzerland) | 1869 | 19 | 16 | 1 | 2 | — | — | ||
| Zaeslein (Switzerland) | 1881 | ? | 180 | 19 | ? | — | — | ||
| Kessler (Petrograd) | 1888 | ? | 22 | 16 | 47 | — | — | ||
| Mosler (Greifswald) | 1894 | 181 | 112 | 64 | 5 | — | — | ||
| Bollinger (Munich) | 1885 | 25 | 16 | 1 | 8 | — | — | ||
| Vierordt (Tübingen) | 1885 | 121 | 113 | 8 | — | — | — | ||
| Mangold (Tübingen) | 1885–94 | 128 | 120 | 6 | 8 | — | — | ||