Prevalence of Hydatid Cyst Disease in West Bank - Palestine

Hydatidosis is a zoonotic disease that occurs throughout the world and causes considerable economic losses and public health problems in many countries, it is a major helminthes parasitic infection in West Bank . The current study aims to explore the size of the problem in sheep of West-Bank and answering the question : what is the prevalence of sheep hydatidosis in Palestine ?. A total of 1000 indigenous sheep carcasses were selected from the municipalities abattoirs and slaughterhouses of Nablus, Jenin and Tubas districts. Each animal carcass was inspected carefully, cysts of each organ ( liver , lung …) were counted, measured and examined microscopically to determine the fertility .The total prevalence of hydatid cyst was 9 %, distributed according to age of sheep as : 0.6% in hoggets ( ≤ 1 year ), 10 % in 1-2 years, 24% in 2-3 years, 27% in >3 years age . Our research showed that liver was the most infected organ, 51% of cysts infected both liver and lung together (mixed infection ), 31% were liver cases alone, while involvement of lung alone was observed in 13 % of the cases .The lower number was in spleen 3% and viscera 1%. Microscopic examination of infected cysts revealed that 17% of organs had fertile cysts . 61% of cysts size were <4 cm and 38 % were >4 cm.