TY - JOUR
T1 - A retrospective study of human cystic echinococcosis in Basrah province, Iraq
AU - Abdulhameed, Mohanad F.
AU - Habib, Ihab
AU - Al-Azizz, Suzan A.
AU - Robertson, Ian
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Ministry of Health in Iraq and the participating hospitals in Basrah for their cooperation and effort in facilitating data collection. Mohanad F. Abdulhameed is indebted to the research fund from the Ministry of Higher Education in Iraq through a PhD scholarship grant.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a parasitic zoonosis with serious clinical burden and constitutes a challenge to public health in endemic areas worldwide. We performed a retrospective study to investigate the occurrence of CE in patients at six hospitals in Basrah province, Iraq. In the current study setting, data retrieval and validation of the quality of hospital records was very challenging considering the difficult situation Iraq is unfortunately facing. Hospitalization records were reviewed from January 2005 to December 2015. A total of 748 cases of human with CE were diagnosed and operated in Basrah hospitals, equivalent to an annual clinical incidence of approximately 4.5 cases per 100 000 people. Hospital records show that, cystic echinococcosis affected more females (61.2%) than males (38.8%). Descriptive review of recorded CE cases in the surveyed hospitals revealed that more cases were reported in the age group of 21–30 years than in the other age groups. Based on the reviewed recorded clinical reports, cysts were mainly found in the liver (46.3%) and lungs (28.1%) of the patients. Hospital reports demonstrate that females had more hepatic cysts (63.9%) than males (36.1%). This study found that CE continues to pose a threat to public health in Basrah, and there is a need for more epidemiological investigations of CE in humans in order to determine risk factors and the economic impact of the disease in this province of Iraq.
AB - Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a parasitic zoonosis with serious clinical burden and constitutes a challenge to public health in endemic areas worldwide. We performed a retrospective study to investigate the occurrence of CE in patients at six hospitals in Basrah province, Iraq. In the current study setting, data retrieval and validation of the quality of hospital records was very challenging considering the difficult situation Iraq is unfortunately facing. Hospitalization records were reviewed from January 2005 to December 2015. A total of 748 cases of human with CE were diagnosed and operated in Basrah hospitals, equivalent to an annual clinical incidence of approximately 4.5 cases per 100 000 people. Hospital records show that, cystic echinococcosis affected more females (61.2%) than males (38.8%). Descriptive review of recorded CE cases in the surveyed hospitals revealed that more cases were reported in the age group of 21–30 years than in the other age groups. Based on the reviewed recorded clinical reports, cysts were mainly found in the liver (46.3%) and lungs (28.1%) of the patients. Hospital reports demonstrate that females had more hepatic cysts (63.9%) than males (36.1%). This study found that CE continues to pose a threat to public health in Basrah, and there is a need for more epidemiological investigations of CE in humans in order to determine risk factors and the economic impact of the disease in this province of Iraq.
KW - Basrah
KW - Cystic echinococcosis
KW - Echinococcus granulosus
KW - Humans
KW - Iraq
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U2 - 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.11.011
DO - 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.11.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 29183851
AN - SCOPUS:85035028530
SN - 0001-706X
VL - 178
SP - 130
EP - 133
JO - Acta Tropica
JF - Acta Tropica
ER -