On the diversity of mollusc intermediate hosts of Angiostrongylus costaricensis Morera & Cespedes, 1971 in southern Brazil

Abstract

Veronicellid slugs are considered the most important intermediate hosts of Angiostrongylus costaricensis, an intra-arterial nematode of rodents. Studies undertaken in three localities in southern Brazil led to identification of molluscs other than veronicellid slugs as hosts of A. costaricensis: Limax maximus, Limax flavus and Bradybaena similaris. These data indicate a low host specificity of larval stages of A. costaricensis, as it has been reported to other congeneric species.

New host, geographic records, and histopathologic studies ofAngiostrongylus spp (Nematoda: Angiostrongylidae) in rodents from Argentina with updated summary of records from rodent hosts and host specificity assessment

“…Five species of Angiostrongylus have been reported in North and South American rodents: A. cantonensis , A. costaricensis , A. lenzii, A. morerai , and A. schmidti . Notably, the snails Achatina fulica (Bowdich 1822), Pomacea caniculata (Lamarck 1828), Phyllocaulis variegatus (Semper 1885), Phyllocaulis soleiformis (Orbigny 1835), Belocaulus angustipes (Heynemann 1885) are recorded from the area studied in this survey, and have all been previously recorded as intermediate hosts of A. cantonensis and/or A. costaricensis ( Teixeira et al 1993 , Díaz et al 2013 , Gregoric et al 2013 ). Accordingly, the low host specificity of these Angiostrongylus spp it is puzzling that there been no cases of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis or abdominal angiostrongylosis in Argentina to date.…”

Species of Angiostrongylus (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea) in wildlife: A review

“…The first-stage larvae of A. costaricensis gain the molluscan intermediate host simultaneously by an oral and percutaneous route ( Morera, 1973; Mendonça et al., 1999 ). Veronicellid slugs are the main intermediate hosts ( Morera and Ash, 1970; Morera, 1973; Morera et al., 1988 ); however, the limacid slugs, Limax maximus and L. flavus , and Bradybaena similaris are also suitable intermediate hosts in nature ( Graeff-Teixeira et al., 1993 ). I am not aware of a study of developmental stages and times in the slug intermediate host.…”

Central nervous system manifestations of Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection

“…However, A. malaysiensis has yet to be isolated from humans (Prociv et al, 2000). Since A. costaricensis does not cause neurologic symptoms, this paper will focus on A. cantonensis infection [For more information about A. costaricensis please see additional references (Grisotti and Avila-Pires, 2011; Rebello et al, 2013; Rebello et al, 2012; Rodriguez et al, 2014; Teixeira et al, 1993)].…”