Parastrongylus (=Angiostrongylus) cantonensis now endemic in Louisiana wildlife.
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.
Kim
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DY
Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803, USA. dykim@mail.vetmed.lsu.edu
Stewart
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TB
Bauer
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RW
Mitchell
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M
D017185:Angiostrongylus cantonensis / Q000254:growth & development*; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017206:Strongylida Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*