Sero-epidemiology of hydatid disease in the non-intervention area of north-east Turkana

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Abstract
In 1983 an intensive programme for the eradication of human cystic hydatid disease was established in north-west Turkana by the African Medical and Research Foundation. The north-east region of the district, approximately 200 km away, was not part of the programme and was effectively left untouched. This presented an opportunity to compare the current seroprevalence of hydatid disease in the north-eastern, non-intervention area with that in the north-west, where the eradication programme has been underway for a decade. Finger-prick blood samples, taken from 538 Turkana volunteers from 10 study sites in north-eastern Turkana in March and April 1991, were dried on filter paper before being tested for anti-Echinococcus antibodies by ELISA. Eighty-eight (16.4%) of the volunteers were found to be seropositive and 22 of these (4.1%) were classified as strongly positive. The level of seroprevalence and the social/cultural framework in the non-intervention area studied appear to be similar to those in the eradication programme area. Transmission of Echinococcus therefore seems to be continuing throughout northern Turkana.

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