A retrospective study of in-patient records for the period 1985-2001 collected from 11 hospitals in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), China revealed a total of 2216 cases of echinococcosis. The survey showed that cystic echinococcosis (CE) occurs throughout NHAR but that human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) cases were only located in a confluence area of three counties, Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan. Incidence rates between counties within southern NHAR showed a highly heterogeneous distribution of cases, suggestive of different echinococcal transmission patterns. There was a significant difference in incidence between males and females, and farm labourers accounted for the majority of cases. Radical surgery with or without albendazole/mebendazole drug treatment was the major method of treatment for CE and repeat surgery was common; drug treatment alone was used mainly for AE. Epigastric pain was the main reason for patients seeking medical advice, the liver was the primary location of echinococcosis lesions and the majority of echinococcosis cases were diagnosed by ultrasound. Over a 12 year period, the average bed utilization rate in the Second Provincial Hospital of NHAR for patients with echinococcosis was 78% and echinococcosis cases accounted, on average, for 0.7% among the total hospital in-patients. Taking inflation into account, charges for echinococcosis hospitalization and treatment increased three-fold over the period 1994-2002. This study indicates that echinococcosisis is a significant public health problem in NHAR, especially in the south. The data from the hospital retrospective study are clearly underestimates and community surveys are required to determine the true echinococcosis prevalence levels, especially in the more remote areas of NHAR.