Abstracts in four languages for new paper for the prevention of echinococcosis in remote communities (December 2014)

Proper disposal of carcasses and offal after home slaughter is difficult in poor and remote communities and therefore dogs readily have access to hydatid cysts containing offal from livestock, thus completing the parasite cycle of the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus and putting communities at risk of cystic echinococcosis.

The new paper by Li et al. proposes a very simple way to eliminate this threat to public health: boiling livers and lungs for 30 minutes. This could be an efficient and cheap complement to other veterinary public health operations to control cystic echinococcosis.

This paper is part of the topical issue of Parasite “Innovation for the Management of Echinococcosis.” Invited editors: Dominique A. Vuitton, Laurence Millon, Bruno Gottstein and Patrick Giraudoux.

Because this paper contains information that could be useful not only to specialists, but also to physicians, veterinarians and the general public in countries infested with echinococcosis, including remote communities, the abstract of the paper is published in four languages: English, French, Chinese and Arabic. The paper is also illustrated by three full-page illustrations. Since the paper is fully open access and free to download, we expect it to be read by a wide audience in infested countries.

Boiling sheep liver or lung for 30 minutes is necessary and sufficient to kill Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces in hydatid cysts
Parasite 2014, 21, 64