If you happen to live in such a locality where rearing and selling of sheep or goats is done or you or your
children play with stray dogs or your pet dog inside your home is neither vaccinated regularly nor his proper
hygiene is maintained, or your pet spends most part of daytime outside the house specially near open dirty
drains rather than inside the house, you and possibly your children can become victim of cysts.
If you and your children do not wash hands with soap before eating or after touching earth and soil and then
without washing their hands with soap straightway go for dinner/lunch or If you and your children have
dirty long uncut nails having dirt underneath or If you and your family members are very fond of roadside
open air food stalls where cut fruits, chaat and other fast foods are not covered, you and your children are
most likely to be infested with lung or liver cysts.
If you are in the habit of eating meat in nonstandard roadside food stalls (called Dhaaba in local language),
chances are you can ingest cyst-laden meat. If such a person suffers from incessant cough with phlegm,
chest pain and eosinophilia and sometimes he coughs out blood, it raises the possibility of cysts in the chest.
If a person who does not maintain proper hygiene before eating or after playing with stray or unvaccinated
dogs feels pain in the right side of abdomen and feels a solid tumour like thing on touching with your hand,
the possibility of cyst in the liver cannot be ruled out.

Dr. K. K. Pandey is a Senior Consultant in Thoracic & Endothoracic Surgery at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, with 30+ years’ experience in lung cancer surgery, chest tumors, pleural diseases, VATS, esophageal surgery and minimally invasive thoracic procedures. He is also a dedicated health writer and educator.
