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Effective medical treatment for hydatid disease?

Until recently, treatment of hydatid disease (larval echinococcosis) has been in the hands of surgeons, and there has been little to offer patients with nonresectable lesions or those who could not tolerate surgery. However, recent experience with several benzimidazole drugs suggests that chemotherapy may be an important adjunct to surgery or, in certain circumstances, replace surgery as the therapy of choice. In this issue ofThe Journal, Motris and colleagues' describe their experience with albendazole, which of all the benzimidazoles tested so far, may hold the most potential. How much hydatid disease occurs in the United States? Cystic hydatid disease (CHD) is acquired when human beings ingest eggs of the dog-host tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus . The larval cysts typically occur in the liver and lungs or, less commonly, in othet organs. In the contiguous United States, locally acquired CHD is rare and strictly limited geographically; transmission is known to occur between dogs and sheep in