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Parasitology Feb 2021Angiostrongylus cantonensis has been found in Florida, USA, from the panhandle in the north to Miami and surrounding areas in the southern parts of the state, in both...
Angiostrongylus cantonensis has been found in Florida, USA, from the panhandle in the north to Miami and surrounding areas in the southern parts of the state, in both definitive and intermediate hosts in a limited studies completed in 2015. Additional studies have identified this parasite in a variety of intermediate hosts, both native and non-native gastropod species, with new host species recorded. Many areas in Florida with higher A. cantonensis prevalence were those with a high human population density, which suggests it is a matter of time before human infections occur in Florida. Case reports in the state currently involve non-human primates and include a gibbon and orangutan in Miami. Here, we report the current status of A. cantonensis in the state, as well as the infection in a capuchin monkey and presumptive infection in a red ruffed lemur in Gainesville, Florida.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Animals, Zoo; Armadillos; Incidence; Monkey Diseases; Rats; Rodent Diseases; Snails; Strongylida Infections
PubMed: 32729436
DOI: 10.1017/S0031182020001286 -
ACS Chemical Neuroscience Apr 2018Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm, is endemic to Hawaii. A recent increase in the number of cases has drawn intense local and national media attention. As a... (Review)
Review
Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm, is endemic to Hawaii. A recent increase in the number of cases has drawn intense local and national media attention. As a result there is an increased fear of acquiring the disease from local produce, which has the potential to adversely affect the income of local farmers. The most common means of transmission is by the ingestion of an infected intermediate host. Other modes of transmission have been suggested including infectious larvae being released into the mucus trail of gastropods. This literature review indicates that mucus trails from infected gastropods poses a minimal risk to humans.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Eating; Hawaii; Humans; Mucus; Nervous System Diseases; Snails; Strongylida Infections
PubMed: 29465976
DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00491 -
Parasites & Vectors Aug 2020Parasitic infections may cause significant effects on behavior, learning, and memory of the host. In the brain of mice heavily infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis,...
BACKGROUND
Parasitic infections may cause significant effects on behavior, learning, and memory of the host. In the brain of mice heavily infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis, severe damage has been observed in the hippocampus. This component has been considered to have associations with spatial learning and memory in humans and vertebrates. This study was designed to determine the impairments in behavior, learning, and memory in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice heavily infected with the parasite.
METHODS
Each mouse was inoculated with 50 third-stage larvae of A. cantonensis. After infection, daily changes in weight and dietary consumption, worm recoveries and survival rates were determined. The forced swimming test, open field test, and Morris water maze test were employed to evaluate depression- and anxiety-like behavior as well as impairments in spatial learning and memory, respectively.
RESULTS
The worm recovery rate in the BALB/c mice was significantly lower than that of C57BL/6 mice from day 14 post-infection. The survival rate in infected BALB/c mice decreased to 0% by day 25 whereas those with swim-training survived three more days. On day 42, the C57BL/6 mice had a survival rate of 85.7% in the swimming group and 70% in the non-swimming group. Significant differences were found in weight between infected and non-infected BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice from day 13 and day 12, respectively with corresponding changes in their dietary consumption. Depression-like behavior was found in the infected BALB/c mice but not in C57BL/6 mice. However, anxiety-like behavior was found to occur only in C57BL/6 mice. Impaired spatial learning and memory were also found in the two strains of mice which occurred from day 14 post-infection.
CONCLUSIONS
Results of this study indicate that A. cantonensis causes depression, anxiety, and impairments in spatial learning and memory in heavily infected mice. Moreover, significantly higher severity was observed in the Th-2 dominant BALB/c mice.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Anxiety; Cognitive Dysfunction; Depression; Disease Models, Animal; Hippocampus; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Strongylida Infections
PubMed: 32778140
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-020-04230-y -
The Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical... 2001Until the recent establishment of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in North America, Australia was the only developed region endemic for this parasite. Almost 50 years ago... (Review)
Review
Until the recent establishment of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in North America, Australia was the only developed region endemic for this parasite. Almost 50 years ago the life cycle was elucidated there, in the city of Brisbane, and the first human infections probably occurred in 1959. From the 1970s, increasing numbers of autochthonous infections have been reported along the central east coast of the continent (southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales), involving humans, rats, dogs, horses, flying foxes and marsupials. Ten years ago, the parasite was discovered in Sydney, almost 1,000 km to the south, in dogs. In that city, it has since been diagnosed as a cause of neurological disease in increasing numbers of dogs, flying foxes, marsupials and zoo primates. Presumably, these infections resulted from the ingestion of snails or slugs, and it seems that virtually all species of native and exotic terrestrial molluscs can serve as intermediate hosts. It is not known how the parasite was introduced to this continent, or how it has spread over such an extensive territory, although eventually its range could encompass the entire east coast, and potentially other regions. It is also not known if the almost identical, native species, A. mackerrasae, is able to infect people (or other non-rodent hosts). All worms recovered to date, from one fatal human case, and from many animal infections, have been confirmed as A. cantonensis.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Animals, Wild; Australia; Disease Reservoirs; Humans; Strongylida Infections; Zoonoses
PubMed: 12041575
DOI: No ID Found -
Developmental and Comparative Immunology Apr 2020As one of the most successful invasive land snail species, Achatina (Lissachatina) fulica Bowdich, 1822 has achieved wide global distribution, particularly in... (Review)
Review
As one of the most successful invasive land snail species, Achatina (Lissachatina) fulica Bowdich, 1822 has achieved wide global distribution, particularly in (sub)tropical regions, with further dispersal likely due to climate change. This species of giant African snails (up to 17 cm shell length) is a pest that has extensive negative impact on agriculture and can serve as vector for several parasites, including Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a nematode parasite that causes (human) eosinophilic meningitis, an emergent disease. Investigation showed that A. cantonensis infection negatively impacts the metabolism of A. fulica by depleting polysaccharide stores of the intermediate host, compromising the energy balance of the snail. A review of the literature indicates that A. fulica possesses potent innate type immune defenses to counter infection, including phagocytic hemocytes capable of deploying reactive oxygen species and lectins for non-self recognition, a serine protease-dependent coagulation response (not observed in other taxa of gastropods), as well as antimicrobial proteins including achacin, an antimicrobial protein. A recent chromosome level genome assembly will facilitate progressively detailed characterization of these immune features of A. fulica. We strongly encourage further immunological studies of A. fulica, ranging from organismal level to molecular biology to gain better understanding of the A. fulica internal defense response to nematode pathogens like A. cantonensis and the contribution of immune function to the invasiveness of (snail) species. Characterization of immunity of A. fulica, representing the understudied Stylommatophora (panpulmonate landsnails) will also broaden the comparative immunology of Gastropoda.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; Brazil; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Disease Vectors; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humans; Immune System; Immunity, Innate; Introduced Species; Meningitis; Rats; Reactive Oxygen Species; Receptors, Pattern Recognition; Snails; Strongylida Infections
PubMed: 31877327
DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2019.103579 -
The Journal of Parasitology Apr 2015Angiostrongylus cantonensis , the rat lungworm, is a zoonotic, parasitic nematode that uses the rat as a definitive host and gastropods as intermediate hosts. It is...
Angiostrongylus cantonensis , the rat lungworm, is a zoonotic, parasitic nematode that uses the rat as a definitive host and gastropods as intermediate hosts. It is prevalent in parts of Asia, the Pacific islands, and the Caribbean. In the United States, A. cantonensis is established in Hawaii and in recent years has been reported in Alabama, California, Louisiana, and Florida, where it has been found in the reintroduced Lissachatina fulica (also known as Achatina fulica), the giant African snail that was once eradicated from the state. Since 2004, A. cantonensis has been identified as the causative agent for 2 non-human primate deaths in Florida, one attributed to ingestion of the snail Zachrysia provisoria. Our study further supports the presence of A. cantonensis in Z. provisoria in Florida and identifies 2 additional introduced terrestrial snails, Bradybaena similaris and Alcadia striata, that serve as intermediate hosts for A. cantonensis , as well as evidence of rat infection, in southern Florida. The finding of both definitive and intermediate hosts suggests that A. cantonensis may be established in south Florida.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; DNA, Helminth; Feces; Florida; Humans; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Rats; Snails; Strongylida Infections; Zoonoses
PubMed: 25564891
DOI: 10.1645/14-553.1 -
Euro Surveillance : Bulletin Europeen... Aug 2019In October 2018, two hedgehogs were admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) with signs of acute neurological disease....
In October 2018, two hedgehogs were admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) with signs of acute neurological disease. Necropsy detected immature, fully developed nematodes in the subarachnoid space of both hedgehogs, including a gravid female worm. DNA-based molecular tools confirmed the nematode as , an important aetiological agent of eosinophilic meningitis in humans. So far this zoonotic parasite in has not been reported in western European wildlife.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Hedgehogs; Nematoda; Nematode Infections; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Analysis; Spain; Zoonoses
PubMed: 31431209
DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.33.1900489 -
Parasites & Vectors May 2019Rats (Rattus spp.) invaded most of the world as stowaways including some that carried the rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the cause of eosinophilic...
Low diversity of Angiostrongylus cantonensis complete mitochondrial DNA sequences from Australia, Hawaii, French Polynesia and the Canary Islands revealed using whole genome next-generation sequencing.
BACKGROUND
Rats (Rattus spp.) invaded most of the world as stowaways including some that carried the rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the cause of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis in humans and other warm-blooded animals. A high genetic diversity of A. cantonensis based on short mitochondrial DNA regions is reported from Southeast Asia. However, the identity of invasive A. cantonensis is known for only a minority of countries. The affordability of next-generation sequencing for characterisation of A. cantonensis genomes should enable new insights into rat lung worm invasion and parasite identification in experimental studies.
METHODS
Genomic DNA from morphologically verified A. cantonensis (two laboratory-maintained strains and two field isolates) was sequenced using low coverage whole genome sequencing. The complete mitochondrial genome was assembled and compared to published A. cantonensis and Angiostrongylus malaysiensis sequences. To determine if the commonly sequenced partial cox1 can unequivocally identify A. cantonensis genetic lineages, the diversity of cox1 was re-evaluated in the context of the publicly available cox1 sequences and the entire mitochondrial genomes. Published experimental studies available in Web of Science were systematically reviewed to reveal published identities of A. cantonensis used in experimental studies.
RESULTS
New A. cantonensis mitochondrial genomes from Sydney (Australia), Hawaii (USA), Canary Islands (Spain) and Fatu Hiva (French Polynesia), were assembled from next-generation sequencing data. Comparison of A. cantonensis mitochondrial genomes from outside of Southeast Asia showed low genetic diversity (0.02-1.03%) within a single lineage of A. cantonensis. Both cox1 and cox2 were considered the preferred markers for A. cantonensis haplotype identification. Systematic review revealed that unequivocal A. cantonensis identification of strains used in experimental studies is hindered by absence of their genetic and geographical identity.
CONCLUSIONS
Low coverage whole genome sequencing provides data enabling standardised identification of A. cantonensis laboratory strains and field isolates. The phenotype of invasive A. cantonensis, such as the capacity to establish in new territories, has a strong genetic component, as the A. cantonensis found outside of the original endemic area are genetically uniform. It is imperative that the genotype of A. cantonensis strains maintained in laboratories and used in experimental studies is unequivocally characterised.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Australia; Cyclooxygenase 1; DNA, Mitochondrial; Genetic Variation; Genome, Helminth; Genome, Mitochondrial; Hawaii; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Phylogeny; Polynesia; Rats; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Spain; Strongylida Infections; Whole Genome Sequencing
PubMed: 31097040
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-019-3491-y -
Veterinary Parasitology, Regional... Jan 2020Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a tropical lungworm of rats known for central nervous system migration in aberrant primate hosts. Here, we describe A. cantonensis...
Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a tropical lungworm of rats known for central nervous system migration in aberrant primate hosts. Here, we describe A. cantonensis infection in three captive callitrichids from a Texas zoo. The affected animals included a Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii), a cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), and a pied tamarin (Saguinus bicolor) that ranged from 8 to 18 years old. Clinical signs included lethargy, ataxia, and seizures. Histologically, these animals had an eosinophilic meningoencephalitis to myelitis and some areas had abundant macrophages and parasite migration tracts. All cases had intralesional metastrongyle parasites, and nematodes were extracted from the formalin-fixed brain specimen in one case. This extracted parasite was identified as Angiostrongylus cantonensis based on morphologic features and diagnosis was confirmed with PCR. These cases represent the first report of this parasite in non-human primates in Texas, highlighting the western spread of A. cantonensis in the continental United States.
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Animals, Zoo; Callimico; Central Nervous System Helminthiasis; Male; Monkey Diseases; Saguinus; Strongylida Infections; Texas
PubMed: 32057389
DOI: 10.1016/j.vprsr.2019.100363 -
ACS Chemical Neuroscience Aug 2017
Topics: Angiostrongylus cantonensis; Animals; Animals, Wild; Disease Reservoirs; Eosinophilia; Florida; Food Parasitology; Humans; Life Cycle Stages; Meningitis; Rats; Snails; Strongylida Infections
PubMed: 28810745
DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00244