Surgical incidence of hydatidosis in the Sahel and Central Tunisia

Abstract A retrospective hospital survey of patients having undergone surgery for hydatidosis was undertaken in order to evaluate hydatic endemicity in central Tunisia and the Sahel. The study made it possible to establish the following: an average prevalence of 22.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; a significant underregistration of the illness, only 51.5% of the cases being reported; certain high-risk rural areas are characterized by a prevalence exceeding 40 per 100,000 inhabitants; the disease is more frequent among women; surgical hydatidosis is not rare among the very young and the very old; among adults, the liver is the first organ affected, followed by the lungs; among children, it is the opposite. Hydatidosis thus represents a commonly-occurring disease that is frequently underestimated in official statistics. A preventive program must be conceived to control this scourge.