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Observations on the transmission of Angiostrongylus cantonensis from snail to rodent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

Shinichi Noda
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Zoology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Usuki, Kagoshima 890, Japan
Ryuichi Uchikawa
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Zoology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Usuki, Kagoshima 890, Japan
Seiken Matayoshi
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Setouchi-cho, Oshima-gun, Kagoshima 894–15, Japan
Yohsuke Watanabe
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Zoology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Usuki, Kagoshima 890, Japan
Atsuo Sato
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Zoology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Usuki, Kagoshima 890, Japan

Abstract

A survey of Angiostrongylus cantonensis was carried out to investigate the mode of transmission from molluse to rat in a fixed study area of Yoron Island from 1979 to 1982. Rattus rattus was found to be infected with a small number of worms in spite of heavy infection with third-stage larvae in Achatina fulica and an abundance of this snail in the area. Natural infection and/or susceptibility with A. cantonensis were confirmed in three small snail species. Bradybaena circulus, Fruticicola despecta and Luchuena reticulata. Young A. fulica was found to be infected with fewer third-stage larvae than mature A. fulica. It was concluded that molluscs which were infected with a small number of third-stage larvae of A. cantonensis play an important role in maintaining the life cycle of A. cantonensis. The percentage of rat stomachs containing molluse tissue was relatively low, and the incidence and infection was low in rats. Infection with A. cantonensis did not occur very often in R. rattus in nature.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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