Abstract

Human echinococcosis, also referred to as hydatid disease, is a neglected disease in Brazil and many other countries. Its distribution and hospitalization characteristics are poorly known and so can be little used in the development of public health policy. From January 2000 to December 2015, we recorded national patterns of hospitalization and symptoms using the International Classification of Diseases and estimated the costs of treatment. The number of hospitalizations may have been underestimated due to lack of awareness of health workers of this disease and a resulting inability to identify the disease symptoms and record them accurately in the National Hospitalization Information System.

Keywords: Burden of illness; Cost of illness; Cestodes; Echinococcosis; Health economics; Zoonoses