In Europe, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is considered the reservoir of Angiostrongylus vasorum, nematode residing in the pulmonary arteries and right heart of dogs and many species of wild carnivores. Italy is considered one of the European countries where this nematode is actually spreading. Between May 2007 and November 2013, 62 foxes found dead in Central Italy were necropsied. Right heart and pulmonary arteries were opened and checked for the presence of adult parasites. Impression smears from sectioned lungs were examined for the presence of first-stage larvae, and samples of lungs were processed for histological examination. In order to detect eventual disseminated infections, samples of heart, pulmonary lymph nodes, liver, kidneys, and brain of foxes positive for A. vasorum at necropsy or lungs histological examination were processed for histological examination. An overall prevalence of 43.5% was recorded. Light, mild, and severe lung lesions were detected in 33.3, 22.2, and 25.9% of infected animals, respectively. Severe lesions were more frequent in animals younger than 12 months. In five infected foxes (18.5%), no gross lesions were observed, while for three animals, angiostrongylosis was considered the cause of death. A case of disseminated angiostrongylosis was detected and another one was suspected. This is the firs report of disseminated angiostrongylosis in the fox.

A case of fatal infection caused by larval forms of Taenia martis in a ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) living in the Rome zoological garden is described. The animal, living in a semi-natural pen with other 15 conspecific individuals and being fed with fresh fruit and vegetables, yoghurt and eggs, was transported to the Istituto Zooprofilattico of Rome for post-mortem examination. The anamnesis included, ten days before the death, apathy, lack of appetite, abdominal distension and diarrhoea. A severe exudative fibrinous-purulent peritonitis with numerous adhesions between the abdominal wall and the bowel loops was detected. After intestine removal, two free and viable, 4 cm long, whitish, leaf-like parasitic forms were pinpointed. Macroscopic examination of the two parasites allowed their identification as larval stages of cestodes, identified via molecular analysis as T. martis metacestodes. This report represents the first record of T. martis infection in the host species and in a zoological garden and for the pathological relevance of the infection.

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Background Angiostrongylus vasorum is a nematode residing in the heart and pulmonary vessels of dogs and wild carnivores. In Europe the red fox is its reservoir, while only three records from wolves have been published. Angiostrongylus vasorum has a worldwide distribution, and many pieces of evidence demonstrate that it is spreading from endemic areas to new ones. In Italy, A. vasorum was reported with increasing frequency in dogs and foxes in the last decades, and now it is considered endemic throughout the country. Angiostrongylus vasorum can be asymptomatic or cause respiratory and circulatory disorders, at times causing severe disseminated infections.MethodsBetween February 2012 and December 2016, 25 wolves found dead in central Italy were submitted to the Istituto Zooprofilattico del Lazio e della Toscana for post-mortem examination. Samples of lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, mediastinic lymph nodes and brain were collected from each animal for histological examination. When adult and larval nematodes were microscopically seen in lungs, the other organs were processed, and five histological sections for each organ were examined. To confirm parasite identification, lung samples were submitted to a PCR-sequencing protocol targeting the ITS2 region of A. vasorum. ResultsSeven wolves (28.0%) harboured nematode larvae in lung sections. In two of the positive wolves, adult nematodes were visible in pulmonary arteries, in four animals larvae were also detected in other organs. DNA sequencing reactions confirmed parasite identification as A. vasorum in all the cases.ConclusionsAs a result of the high prevalence of A. vasorum reported in wolves in the present study, a focus of high circulation could be hypothesised in central Italy. Nevertheless, the similarly high prevalence in foxes originating from the same areas were reported in previous papers. Histopathological evidence highlights the pathogenic potential of A. vasorum in the wolf, especially in juvenile animals.

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