Hydatid disease: research and control in Turkana, IV. The pilot control programme.

A pilot programme to control hydatid disease in north-west Turkana district was started in October 1983 with an intensive educational campaign. This was followed by control and treatment of the dog population to reduce the prevalence of Echinococcus granulosus, thereby reducing the infective pressure on man. Surveillance is by mass annual sero-epidemiological and ultrascan surveys of the nomadic Turkana within the control region and by arecoline purging of the dogs. Some of the recent advances in research on hydatid disease in subject areas such as immunodiagnosis, chemotherapy and epidemiology have been incorporated into the present programme, and their relevance to this and other similar programmes is discussed.