Parastrongylus (=Angiostrongylus) cantonensis now endemic in Louisiana wildlife

J Parasitol. 2002 Oct;88(5):1024-6. doi: 10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088[1024:PACNEI]2.0.CO;2.

Abstract

Parastrongylus (=Angiostrongylus) cantonensis, a lung worm of rats, was first reported in the United States in 1987, with a probable introduction by infected rats from ships docking in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the mid-1980s. Since then, it has been reported in nonhuman primates and a boy from New Orleans, and in a horse from Picayune, Mississippi, a distance of 87 km from New Orleans. Parastrongylus cantonensis infection is herein reported in a lemur (Varencia variegata rubra) from New Iberia, Louisiana, a distance of 222 km from New Orleans, and in a wood rat (Neotomafloridanus) and in 4 opossums (Didelphis virginiana) from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a distance of 124 km from New Orleans. The potential of a great variety of gastropods serving as intermediate hosts in Louisiana may pose a threat to wildlife as well as to domesticated animals in the areas where infected Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are present.

MeSH terms

  • Angiostrongylus cantonensis / growth & development*
  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild / parasitology*
  • Disease Reservoirs / veterinary*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Louisiana / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Rats
  • Strongylida Infections / epidemiology
  • Strongylida Infections / parasitology
  • Strongylida Infections / veterinary*