An ultrasonographic, serological and epidemiological study of human cystic echinococcosis in the saharawi refugee camps

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) represents a relevant public health problem in north Africa but no information is available about the Saharawi population which lives in the refugee camps in Algeria. this ethnic group occupies a restricted area of the desert in cohabitation with several domestic animals (dog, sheep, goats, camels, ecc). for this reasons we aimed to study the prevalence of human CE in this population. The ultrasonographic study was performed on 263 persons, out of them 194 were female. cystic lesion were detected in 22 subjects. serological study was realized on 24 blood samples (11 subject with cystic lesion and 13 without it): all samples resulted negative with Elisa. At serological test, on 37 children who have spent holyday period in Italy, one was positive both in ELISA and WB. despite our results dont reveal the existence of adult subject affected by CE, data from pediatric population as well as from animal survey show the circulation of the parasite