Current situation of human hydatidosis in Chile. 2 proposals for correcting its undernotification Situación actual de la hidatidosis humana en Chile. Dos propuestas de corrección de su subnotificación.

Abstract

Hydatidosis continues to be a prevalent disease in Chile. Since 1985 and until 1990, the number of notified cases decreased abruptly, probably due to sub-notification. Lethality, not calculated officially, increased since 1985 in a roughly similar proportion to the decrease in communicated incidence. This fact, along with an increase in hospital discharges due to the disease in the country, confirms the hypothesis that sub-notification is true. Two estimation systems for the magnitude of sub-notification are proposed, one based in the expected lethality and the other in the corrected hospital discharges, taking into account the phenomenon of re-admission. Both systems, although differing, disclose much higher incidence of hydatidosis than the communicated figure. A critical analysis of both systems is done.