Hydatid disease in Israel

The prevalence pattern of hydatid disease (echinococcosis) in Israel has changed during the past 40 years. Until 1948 it was mainly common in the non-Jewish community; after 1948 its prevalence was high in Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries; and since 1967 endemicity has gradually increased in some rural and semirural Arab and Druze communities. Of 224 surgically-confirmed cases of hydatid disease from these communities during 1960-1989, 52 were from Yirka, a Druze community with a population of 8200. In that town 8% of 63 dogs tested after an arecoline purge and 10% of 255 sheep at the local abattoir were found to be infected. Randomized serosurvey of 758 inhabitants indicated a 1.6% cumulative percentage of hydatid infections, leading to an extrapolated rate of 1583/100,000. Yirka thus is one of the most highly endemic areas for hydatid disease in the world.