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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN, ANIMALS & ENVIRONMENT 131
movement of animal and animal products. During recent years, PAHO has assigned a high priority to its control, and many countries have undertaken control programmes, some with substantial financial aid from the inter-American Development Bank. In Argentina alone, more than 1,300,000 calves are lost every year at an estimated value of U.S. $ 155 million, representing many pounds of protein of a high nutritional value. For man, brucellosis can be an acute, fatal or wasting chronic disease, which further reduces productivity and makes increasing demands for treatment and hospitalization on limited rural health services.
Infection by the tapeworm Echinococcusm granulosus in dogs causes hydatid disease in man. The problem is of serious concern to rural communities in sheep-raising areas of Argentian, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. The disease commonly produces large cysts in the liver and lungs of man, and surgical removal is always dangerous, sometimes fatal, and very expensive. The disease is transmitted to dogs as part of the life cycle of the parasite and results from feeding dogs with offal from infected lambs and sheep. In the affected areas, the prevalence of E. granulosus in dogs ranges from 30 to 60 per cent. The annual costs from hospitalization of patients in three countries where the disease is prevalent is estimated to be U.S. $ 5,00,000. Theoretically, the solution would be to stop dogs from being fed with offal, but this is impractical and contrary to cultural practices. Other control measures are being considered by the Pan American Zoonoses Centre in Buenos Aires, which is studying the usefulness of various drugs in expelling the parasite from its canine host. Considerable success is being achieved, and some of the most promising drugs are now being used in pilot programmes in Argentina and Uruguay
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