Hydatidosis: a global problem of increasing importance.

This review of recent literature reporting the occurrence of hydatid disease due to Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis throughout the world emphasizes the global nature of the problem and the threat of its spread into those countries currently free from it. Attention is drawn to the urgent need for measures to prevent the importation of infected livestock and this would require the development of techniques for pre-mortem diagnosis and differentiation of hydatidosis and cysticercosis of animals. There must also be increased awareness of the possible occurrence of biological strains of the parasite which may be of greater or lower infectivity for man. In the absence of information on infectivity, studies concerning the prevalence of the disease may be meaningless.