Occurrence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in rodents from the rice granary of the Philippines and associated risk factors for zoonotic transmission

Rattus tanezumi and Rattus norvegicus are the most common rodent species in the Philippines, with the former mainly inhabiting agricultural land and the latter in urban areas. Generating information on the Angiostrongylus cantonensis harbored by these rodents would be useful for public health. A total of 600 rodents were collected from traps placed each month from July to December 2012 in selected villages of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija; the rice granary of the Philippines. The prevalence of A. cantonensis in R. tanezumi and R. norvegicus was, 100%; all the rodents from the five villages were infected. The study shows that regardless of stages, body weight and length, rodents are vulnerable to infection by Angiostrongylus cantonensis present in the environment. However in terms of sex, results revelead that the male and female in R. tanezumi has no statistically significance while R. norvegicus revealed that male and female has statistically significance. This study also show that, rodents that were caught in the agricultural area has higher mean intensity compared to rodents that were trapped in the residential areas but found to be insignificant. Also through survey interviews the various risk factors with zoonotic implication of A. cantonensis in the area was also discussed.