Wax Models of Pork Tapeworms

Taenia solium. Florence. 1873.

These models are considered some of the earliest three-dimensional and scientifically correct representations of the dangerous parasite in all stages of development.

VIENNESE WORM COLLECTION
Pork tapeworms live as parasites in human intestines, where they attach to the intestinal mucosa by means of suckers. Pigs serve as the intermediate host, transmittal occurs through pork contaminated with larvae.
Until the middle of the 19th century, it was unclear how humans and animals become infected with tapeworms. In Central Europe large sections of the population suffered from the consequences of parasite infestation. It was not until the 1860s that the breakthrough insight was reached that eating raw pork can lead to infection.
The wax models were commissioned by Emperor Franz I and made by the Florentine wax artist Ergisto Tortoni. At the Vienna World’s Fair in 1873 they provided an impressive illustration of these brand-new research results. At the end of the World’s Fair, they were purchased for the imperial and royal natural history cabinet – as a valuable complement to the world’s largest reference collection of intestinal parasites and parasitic worms.
Today, thanks to improved hygiene in pig husbandry, systematic meat inspection and the correct preparation of pork, pork tapeworms are extremely rare. Current parasite research at the NHM focuses on imported parasites, such as the large American liver fluke, which infects and kills primarily stags and deer. Based on observations to date, it appears to be harmless to humans.