Survival of L3 larvae of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in overwintering slugs Limax maximus

Result code in IS VaVaI

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Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Survival of L3 larvae of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in overwintering slugs Limax maximus

Original language description

The rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a metastrongylid nematode causing neurological disorders in its accidental hosts, among others also humans. This invasive pathogen is native to Southeast Asia and nowadays it is colonizing other parts of the world and forming new foci close to temperate regions. The parasite has a complex life cycle with a range of gastropods serving as intermediate hosts and a broad spectrum of poikilotherm vertebrates and invertebrates can serve as paratenic hosts. Since it was already proven that other, non-zoonotic metastrongylids can survive in its intermediate hosts during the winter months, the aim of our study was to evaluate the survival of A. cantonensis third stage larvae in experimentally infected slugs Limax maximus. 86 slugs were fed by feces from infected rats containing L1 larvae for two consecutive weeks. After this period, slugs were kept in room temperature to let larvae develop for 28 days. Slugs in the control group K1 (22) were sacrificed just after larvae development for confirmation of the infectivity. In average, each slug contained 17.6 live L3 larvae. The second control group K2 (30 slugs) were kept in room temperature during the whole experiment. The experimental group E (34 slugs) were put into the cool room where temperature varied between 4.5 - 7°C for 60 days. After this period, slugs in K2 and E groups were sacrificed and live larvae were counted. In K2, each slug contained 18.2 larvae in average. In group E, each slug contained 5 live L3 larvae in average. Two rats were infected with 60 L3 from overwintering slugs each. After 45 days, feces from infected rats were examined for L1 presence. This study proved experimentally, that L3 larvae of A. cantonensis can survive in overwintering slugs for at least 2 months, even though their numbers dropped significantly. These results deserve an attention due to the impact of the parasite on human and animal health.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

40301 - Veterinary science

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů