Hydatidosis

The hydatid cyst is the pathogenic form of E. granulosus. The pathogeny is cause mainly by the pressure of the developing cyst on the viscera of the host. The disease is known as hydatidosis .

Hydatidosis is a cyclozoonotic disease with a cosmopolitan distribution. There are endemic or hyperendemic regions in Asia; Southern, Northern and Eastern parts of Africa; Southern and Western parts of South America; Central America; Northern part of North America; almost all Europe; and Southern and Eastern parts of Australia.

The annual incidence of the disease expressed by the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants is high in countries like Uruguay (17.7), Cyprus (12.9), Greece (7.9), Chile (7.8), Algeria (5.6) and the former Yugoslavia (3.7).

The Southern part of Brazil is considered a hyperendemic region for hydatidosis, considering domestic animals and also humans. Hydatidosis is a serious public health in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, mainly in the regions closed to the border to Uruguay and Argentina. In these regions there is an expressive sheep raising activity. According to studies done by the Division of Zoonoses and Vectors of the Secretary of Health and Environment of Rio Grande do Sul in 1990, hydatidosis was identified in 31.25% of the bovines and 23.15% of the ovines slaugthered in the last 10 years. The data from the Federal Inspection Service of the Ministry of Agriculture obtained in slaugther houses of Rio Grande do Sul in the period of 1990 and 1993 show that hydatidosis occured in 25% of the slaugthered bovines. However in the regions of the border to Uruguay and Argentina the ocurrence varied from 30% to 40%. In the same period the ocurrence of hydatidosis in ovines was about 6%.