The European Register for Cystic Echinococcosis: Data from Pavia, Italy, 2012-2019

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a chronic, complex, and neglected parasitic zoonosis that may cause serious liver and lung disease in humans. Reliable epidemiological and clinical data on CE are difficult to obtain given the biological and clinical peculiarities of this condition. Data from Hospital Discharge Records only capture inpatients with CE, while most cases are seen as outpatients. Despite being a notifiable disease in many countries, data are rarely transmitted to health authorities. To address these longstanding problems, the Italian Register for Cystic Echinococcosis and subsequently the European Register for Cystic Echinococcosis were created. In January 2012, our center joined the European Register of Cystic Echinococcosis database (ERCE) (http://www.heracles-fp7.eu/erce.html) and the related Echino BioBank. This is a description of the Pavia CE cohort enrolled in ERCE. Pavia is currently the leading ERCE center with the largest number of CE enrolled. Demographics and cyst characteristics of CE patients who accessed our CE clinic at the University of Pavia -San Matteo Hospital Foundation from March 2012 to June 2019 were searched in the ERCE database. As the number of CE patients enrolled grows steadily, so does the amount of reliable clinical information on this neglected condition made available for the first time to clinicians and health authorities.