Hydatid disease in the Turkana District of Kenya

Abstract

The geographical features of the Turkana District of Kenya are described including an account of the social structure of the people, their religion, their customs in relation to animal husbandry, their dress, their diet and food habits and the changes which have occurred in Turkana in recent years. This forms a background to a study of the epidemiology of hydatid disease in the area and supplements the information presented in Paper I of the series which discussed the hypotheses advanced to account for the unusually high prevalence of the disease in Turkana. Very little was known about the distribution of the people and so this was determined by an aerial survey with supplementary ground studies to provide demographic data which was then used to relate surgically diagnosed cases of hydatid disease to population density in different parts of the District. The survey revealed striking differences in incidence varying from 198 per 100 000 per annum in the north, to 17 in the south. The prevalence was much higher in females than males. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.