Hydatidosis

The Muslim celebration of Eid calls for the sacrifice of sheep which is believed to lead to a spike in the occurrence of a disease called Cystic echinococcosis, also called hydatidosis.

The agent of the disease is a parasite called Echinococcus granulosus, usually found in the small intestines of dogs. Intermediate hosts such as sheep become infected by grazing on vegetation contaminated by eggs shed by adult worms living in canine feces. The growth of the larval stage in the sheep is mainly done in internal organs such as the liver and lungs, and can be seen as cysts.

Human infection does not occur by eating infected sheep organs as many people think but by eating food infected by Echinococcus eggs. Cases vary, but it can be fatal.[…]

Professor Chedli Dziri, a surgeon in Charles Nicole Hospital and president of the Tunisian College of Surgery, said that treatment for affected humans is mainly surgical with 3 to 6 months of post-surgery cure. He emphasized that the disease can hit at any age, with 60% of the cases occurring in the liver.

Hydatid cysts

According to research by Professor Samia Lahmar (a veterinarian parisitologist), more than 25% of dogs and more than 80% of Tunisia’s sheep are affected. Camels and cows can also be affected.

Professor Lahmar explained that the main reasons of the expansion of this disease in Tunisia are untreated street dogs and the illegal and unregulated slaughter of sheep, which accounts for more than 50% of production, especially during the Eid. Infected sheep organs are often thrown away to dogs, which supports the cycle of the parasite.

Hands should be washed after touching a dog and "clean all vegetables, and burn all suspicious organs." And above all, don't feed the dogs any sheep entrails.