Epidemiology and Public Health Significance of Hydatidosis: A Review

Echinococcus granulosus is an important dog tape worm whose larval stage causes hydatidosis in animals and man. The objective of this review on hydatidosis is to get a comprehensive knowledge about the disease and it had included the data of past 10 years collected from various scientific articles. Food animals such as sheep, goat, cattle etc. act as its intermediate host. It is a major parasitic zoonosis having high economic loss and public health significance and high worldwide prevalence rate. There are different strains of E. granulosus from G1 to G10 which is distributed worldwide infecting various animals and humans. The tapeworm in dogs causes fewer ill effects but in food animals it affects liver, lungs and spleen which lead to condemnation of meat thereby affecting economic value of meat. In humans it causes severe disease mainly cystic echinococcosis and alveolar echinococcosis in addition to two forms of neotropical echinococcosis namely polycystic echinococcosis and unicystic echinococcosis. Diagnosis and treatment of hydatidosis in animals is practically difficult and uneconomical but more promising in human medicine due to advanced techniques. The role of stray dogs in the maintenance of the life cycle of parasite is important hence health education and public awareness are very essential in the control of echinococcosis.