Cystic echinococcosis in Lombardy: epidemiological aspects and spatial analysis

A descriptive spatial analysis on the spreading of cattle cystic echinococcosis in non-endemic areas of Italy (Lombardy) was performed and the presence of clusters of hydatid disease in the studied area were evaluated. Positive cattle were from 285 out of 5708 farms (4.99 %) with significant differences among the provinces considered. Infection with Echinococcus granulosus was detected in 321 out of 112,521 dairy cattle (P = 0.29 %). CE-positive farms were distributed among 195 of the 812 municipalities included in the study (24.01 %) located in the central and south-eastern part of the region. By SaTScan, four significant clusters of infection were identified; they included 4-241 cattle farms and 4-24 positive animals. The most likely spatial cluster of 17 observed cases in 241 farms was located in the north-eastern part of Lombardy. SaTScan analysis suggest that a geographical surveillance in the area of the positive clusters occur is for and that's could be very useful to public health service to monitoring this zoonotic disease.