Public health importance of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and its relatives.
Species of Angiostrongylus are fairly common nematode parasites of a variety of small mammals, but some species - particularly A. cantonensis and A. costaricensis - are increasingly seen as human infections. The worms make use of a range of aquatic, amphibious or terrestrial gastropod molluscs as intermediate hosts, which become infected by ingestion of eggs shed in the faeces of infected mammals. Porotenic hosts, including crustaceans, amphibians and reptiles, are known for most Angiostrongylus species, and can also be a source of the infective third-stage larvae that initiate mammalian infections.
John Cross is of Professor for Preventive Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA.
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