Ultrasound and Risk Survey Evidence for Cystic Echinococcosis in La Rioja Province, Argentina

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Hydatidosis is a zoonosis of worldwide distribution with endemic areas in Argentina. The present epidemiological study was conducted to explore the presence of cystic echinococcosis in the rural community of Los Bordos (population 99), in the northern province of La Rioja, Argentina, during March 2018. The study included the search for cysts by abdominal ultrasound and a survey on family risk. Sixty-seven people agreed to undergo ultrasound examination, and five adults showed images compatible with hydatic cysts (7.5% prevalence). A family survey was applied to 29 households (78%), stratifying 24 families (83%) as high risk (95% confidence interval = 64.2–94.1) and 5 (17%) as low risk (95% confidence interval = 5.8–55.7) of transmission of the disease, respectively. The values were statistically different by the McNemar test. The goal of the present study, the first study of its kind in La Rioja, was to assess the family risk of echinococcosis among subjects with ultrasound images compatible with cystic echinococcosis.