Risk Factors for Alveolar Echinococcosis in Humans

Overview

Journal Emerg Infect Dis

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2005 Jan 25

PMID 15663843

Citations 57

Authors

Petra Kern

Andrea Ammon

Martina Kron

Gabriele Sinn

Silvia Sander

Lyle R Petersen

Wilhelm Gaus

Peter Kern

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We conducted a case-control study to investigate risk factors for acquiring autochthonous alveolar echinococcosis in Germany. Forty cases and 120 controls matched by age and residence were interviewed. Patients were more likely than controls to have owned dogs that killed game (odds ratio [OR] = 18.0), lived in a farmhouse (OR = 6.4), owned dogs that roamed outdoors unattended (OR = 6.1), collected wood (OR = 4.7), been farmers (OR = 4.7), chewed grass (OR = 4.4), lived in a dwelling close to fields (OR = 3.0), gone into forests for vocational reasons (OR = 2.8), grown leaf or root vegetables (OR = 2.5), owned cats that roamed outdoors unattended (OR = 2.3), and eaten unwashed strawberries (OR = 2.2). Sixty-five percent of cases were attributable to farming. Measures that prevent accidental swallowing of possibly contaminated material during farming or adequate deworming of pet animals might reduce the risk for alveolar echinococcosis.

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