We evaluated prevalence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) in a central Peruvian Highland district by using 4 diagnostic methods: ultrasonography for 949 persons, radiography for 829, and 2 serologic tests for 929 (2 immunoblot formats us-ing bovine hydatid cyst . uid [IBCF] and recombinant EpC1 glutathione S-transferase [rEpC1-GST] antigens). For the IBCF and rEpC1-GST testing, prevalence of liver and pul-monary CE was 4.7% and 1.1% and seropositivity was 8.9% and 19.7%, respectively. Frequency of seropositive results for IBCF and rEpC1-GST testing was 35.7% and 16.7% (all hepatic cysts), 47.1% and 29.4% (hepatic calcifi cations ex-cluded), and 22.2% and 33.3% (lung cysts), respectively. Weak immune response against lung cysts, calcifi ed cysts, small cysts, and cysts in sites other than lung and liver might explain the poor performance of the serodiagnostic tests. We confi rm that CE is highly endemic to Peru and emphasize the limited performance of available serologic assays in the fi eld
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