Echinococcus is very common in slaughtered animals; in Germany, however, the figures in the reports of the abattoirs present an erroneous view in so far as, besides the total number of animals slaughtered, only the numbers of those organs (liver and lungs) are published that were so severely infected with echinococci that, even when the parasites were “shelled” out, the flesh could not be placed upon the market and was therefore “condemned.”
In Berlin the following animals were slaughtered:—
| Year | 1889–90 | 1890–91 | 1891–92 | 1892–93 | 1896–97 | 1902 |
| Oxen | 154,218 | 124,593 | 136,368 | 142,874 | 146,612 | 153,748 |
| Sheep | 430,362 | 371,943 | 367,933 | 355,949 | 395,769 | 434,155 |
| Pigs | 442,115 | 472,859 | 530,551 | 518,073 | 694,170 | 778,538 |
During the same years the following were condemned in consequence of being infected with echinococci:—
| Lung | Liver | Lung | Liver | Lung | Liver | Lung | Liver | Lung | Liver | Lung | Liver | |
| Oxen | 7,266 | 2,418 | 5,792 | 1,938 | 4,497 | 1,721 | 2,563 | 739 | 3,284 | 1,156 | 2,507 | 791 |
| Sheep | 5,479 | 2,742 | 4,595 | 2,059 | 4,435 | 1,669 | 3,331 | 1,161 | 4,561 | 1,939 | 11,138 | 4,437 |
| Pigs | 6,523 | 5,078 | 5,083 | 3,735 | 6,037 | 4,374 | 6,785 | 4,312 | 7,888 | 5,398 | 9,544 | 9,233 |
Nevertheless there are statistics that give the total number of animals infected with echinococcus:—
Author | Place | Oxen | Sheep | Pigs | |||
| Längrich | Rostock i. M. | 26 | ·2 per cent. | 37 | ·0 per cent. | 5 | ·4 per cent. |
| Olt | Stettin | 7 | ·1 " | 25 | ·8 " | 7 | ·3 " |
| Steuding | Gotha | 24 | ·6 " | 35 | ·4 " | 21 | ·4 " |
| Prettner | Prague | 23 | ·2 " | 5 | ·5 " | ? | |
In Güstrow, in Mecklenburg, half of the animals slaughtered are said to be infected with echinococcus; in Wismar 25 per cent. of the oxen, 15 per cent. of the sheep and 5 per cent. of the pigs are infected; according to Mayer, in Leipzig, 3·79 per cent. native pigs, 24·47 per cent. Hungarian pigs, and 13·09 per cent. of sheep were infected with echinococcus; at the same time it was stated that in regard to the native pigs the liver was more frequently affected than the lungs (3·81 per cent. as compared with 0·26 per cent.); in sheep the lungs were more frequently infected (12·71 per cent. to 3·73 per cent.), whereas in the Hungarian pigs both organs were almost equally infected (14·78 per cent. to 12·03 per cent.).
The data of Lichtenheld, in Leipzig, give the frequency with which various organs were affected, as shown in the following table:—
Cattle | Pigs | Sheep | Horses | |||||||
♂ | ♀ | |||||||||
| Lungs | 69 | ·3 per cent. | 16 | ·2 per cent. | 21 | ·4 per cent. | 52 | ·2 per cent. | 5 | ·5 per cent. |
| Liver | 27 | ·0 " | 74 | ·2 " | 72 | ·0 " | 44 | ·9 " | 94 | ·5 " |
| Spleen | 2 | ·2 " | 3 | ·2 " | 2 | ·7 " | 2 | ·9 " | — | |
| Heart | 0 | ·75 " | 3 | ·2 " | 1 | ·3 " | — | — | ||
| Kidneys | 0 | ·75 " | 3 | ·2 " | 1 | ·3 " | — | — | ||
| Subperitoneal tissue | — | — | 1 | ·3 " | — | — | ||||