Medan tapeworms freeload

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Hundreds of thousands of school-aged children in the city give Rp 160.6 million (US$68,340) a year in free meals to tapeworms slithering about in their stomachs, an expert said yesterday.

Tumpal Napitupulu, a parasitologist from North Sumatra University, said in a seminar his recent study found that 76.8 percent of 2,000 elementary school children in the city have tapeworms and suffer from malnutrition.

Each child could have up to 20 worms, each perhaps as long as 30 centimeters, in their intestines. With a lifespan of two years, the animal steals 0.14 grams of carbohydrates and 0.035 grams of protein a day, he said.

"The tapeworms steal carbohydrates which equal 440 kilograms of rice a day from Medan's 280,694 elementary school children," the expert said.

If each kilogram of rice costs Rp 1,000, then during their two-year lifespan, the worms receive Rp 321.2 in free meals from the children, he reckoned as reported by Antara.

He said he believed over 70 percent of Indonesia's 200 million population has tapeworms.

If the worms were laid head to tail they would stretch 50 times the distance between Sabang on the westernmost tip of Indonesia to Merauke in the east, Napitupulu said, or 32,0000 kilometers. (pan)