Although occasionally cysts rupture, they usually signal their presence by causing pressure on some organ or a lump in the abdomen becomes noticeable.

Diagnosis may not be easy. X-rays or scans of the liver using radioactive marker chemicals are not specific; what they confirm is the presence of a lump.

Several other tests using injections of serum into the skin have been in use for many years but they are not always accurate.

Some researchers have come up with a novel treatment in experimental animals, where the inner fluid of the cyst is removed and replaced with serum from an infected animal. Presumably the antibodies contained in the serum destroy the parasite. This has not been transferred to the treatment of humans.

Recently the use of drugs previously used to kill worms in animals has been successfully tried in man. Mebendazole and its derivatives have a low level of toxicity and show promising results.

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