Table 1.
Demographic, regional, institutional/ hospital, and temporal distribution of 330 CE cases (2021–2025).
Fig 1.
Gender, age group, temporal data, and organ involvement distribution of CE patients admitted to five referral hospitals in Kabul, Afghanistan (2021–2025).
A: Shows the gender breakdown; B: illustrates the age group distribution; C: details affected organs; D: Shows temporal (year) data.
Fig 2.
Geographic distribution of CE cases, derived from hospital records.
The intensity of color in each province is proportional to the total number of CE cases reported for that region. This map was created using ArcGIS software and the source of the base map shapefile on which the data is plotted is available at this link https://geo.btaa.org/catalog/stanford-zr035kz3919.
Fig 3.
Multidimensional risk factors driving CE transmission in Afghanistan.
Key interrelated factors perpetuating zoonotic transmission of E. granulosus in Afghanistan’s fragile context: (a) poor environmental hygiene in animal product retail outlets; (b) limited access to safe drinking water; (c) unregulated home-based slaughter facilities; (d) uncontrolled free-roaming dog populations in urban areas; (e) socioeconomic deprivation and poverty; (f) traditional livestock husbandry practices; (g) unregulated commercial abattoirs; (h) street vending of vegetables (i) widespread dog trading outlets; (j) cohabitation of livestock with human residences. These factors interact to sustain the CE transmission cycle and exacerbate health inequities. All photographs in Fig 3 were taken by the authors, with consent for publication under CC BY 4.0 license.
Table 2.
Urgent need for action, a multisectoral one health framework for CE control in Afghanistan.