The life history of the rat lung-worm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Chen) (Nematoda: Metastrongylidae).

Abstract

Adult Angiostrongylus cantonensis live in the pulmonary arteries. Unsegmented ova are discharged into the blood stream, and lodge as emboli in the smaller vessels. First-stage larvae break through into the respiratory tract, migrate up the trachea, and eventually pass out of the body in the faeces. Slugs (Agriolimax laevis) act as intermediate hosts. Two moults occur in the slug, and third-stage larvae appear about the 17th day. The larvae remain within the two cast skins until freed in the stomach of the rat by digestion. They then pass quickly along the small intestine as far as the lower ileum, where they leave the gut and become blood-borne. They congregate in the central nervous system, and have been found there 17 hr after ingestion. The anterior portion of the cerebrum is the most favoured site, and here the third moult takes place on the sixth or seventh day and the final one between the 11th and 13th days. Young adults emerge on the surface of the brain from the 12th to 14th day, and spend the next 2 weeks in the subarachnoid space. From the 28th to 31st days they migrate to the lungs via the venous system, passing through the right side of the heart to their definitive site in the pulmonary arteries. The prepatent period in the rat usually lies between 42 and 45 days.

CerebralAngiostrongylus cantonensisinfection in a captive African pygmy falcon (Polihierax semitorquatus) in southern California

“…First-stage larvae are shed in the feces and develop into infective third-stage larvae in a snail or slug intermediate host. 7,14 Rats and aberrant hosts are infected on ingestion of the intermediate host, contaminated produce, or a paratenic host, which can include planarians, crustaceans, frogs, and lizards.…”

Gallegostrongylus australisn. sp. (Nematoda: Angiostrongylidae) from Muridae in Australia, with zoogeographical considerations

“…Adults of only two nematode species, Angiostrongylus cantonensis and A. mackerrasae, have been reported from the lungs of rodents in Australia (Mackerras & Sandars, 1955;Bhaibulaya, 1968Bhaibulaya, , 1974Bhaibulaya, , 1975Mesina et al, 1974) although a diverse array of nematodes occur in the lungs of marsupials (Spratt, 1979(Spratt, , 1980(Spratt, , 1981(Spratt, , 1984Spratt & Gill, 1998), some causing mild pathological changes (McColl & Spratt, 1982;Spratt & Gill, 1998). The nematodes found in the pulmonary nodules of indigenous rats in New South Wales were morphologically distinct from metastrongyloid, thelazioid and muspiceoid lungworms previously recorded from rodents and marsupials in Australia (loc.…”

Prevalence and intensity ofAngiostrongylus cantonensisin freshwater snails in relation to some ecological and biological factors

“…A ngiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lung worm, was discovered initially in 1944 (Mackerras & Sandars, 1954, 1955 and was thought to be a parasite of only rodents and, therefore, attracted little attention. However, a few years after its discovery in rodents, this nematode was found in the brain of a teenager in Taiwan, and it has since been found in humans in Hawaii, Tahiti, the Marshall Islands, New molts and develop into third-stage infective forms.…”