Hydatid Disease

Abstract

Hydatid disease is a parasitic disease that may affect man as it acts as the intermediate host of the tapewormEcchinococcus granulosus.Natural intermediate hosts of the tapeworm are the sheep, buffalo, camel, deer and moose and the permanent host is the dog. Disease can be found in Australia, New Zealand, in the whole continent of Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, southern and eastern Europe, Iran, the middle East, Mongolia, Turkestan, China, Japan, Vietnam, and less frequently in the USA, Britain and Germany. Transmission to the dog occurs as it eats the discarded offal of intermediate hosts. Transmission to man occurs by close contact with infected dogs. The most commonly affected site in man is the liver and secondly are the lungs, but any organ can be the site of disease, including thyroid, breast, pancreas (1), the eye, the heart (2), the brain, kidneys (3) and bone (4). Disease is characterised by cysts. Cysts grow slowly and signs and symptoms normally occur in middle age, unless compression occurs. Cysts may rupture with fatal results (5).