RESUMO
San Juan de la Costa County (40 45ïSouth lat., 73 19ïWest long.) is located in the Osorno province, South of Chile. Is population is 11,445. The basic economic activities are agriculture, cattle raising, fishery, timber production and manufacture of wood and coal. According to official reports, the incidence of human hydatidosis in Chile and Osorno province, in 1999, was 1.8 and 12.5 per 100,000 respectively. In order to contribute to a better knowledge of the epidemiology of human hydatidosis, an indirect hemagglutination test (IHAT) and ELISA IgG for hydatidosis were performed to 533 randomized people. Three (0.56 percent) resulted positive. Parallelly, a socio-epidemiological survey on hydatidosis was carried out: the majority of people had some basic knowledge about some aspects of hydatidosis transmission. Some considerations on the correspondig prophy latic measures are mentioned