Prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in definitive and intermediate hosts collected from agricultural areas in Ampayon, Butuan City, Southern Philippines

AbstractAngiostrongyliasis is a parasitic disease and a leading cause of human eosinophilic meningoencephalitis caused by rat lungworm  Angiostrongylus cantonensis. This parasite infects a wide range of animal hosts, including snails and rats, which plays a significant role in zoonotic transmission. The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of  A. cantonensis infection in freshwater snails and definitive rat hosts in the agricultural area in Ampayon, Butuan City, Philippines. A total of 54 rat samples and 719 snail individuals were collected in June and July 2020. An overall 2.36% prevalence rate of A. cantonensis snail infection was recorded, consisting ofPomacea canaliculata and Melanoides tuberculata, with a prevalence rate of 4.05% and 1.38%, respectively. Results revealed an overall prevalence of 38.9% in rat infection.  Rattus tanezumi (48.48%) showed a higher infection than Rattus norvegicus (23.80%). Higher infection rates were found in rice field environments than residential houses, with 44.12% and 30% prevalence rates, respectively. Moreover, male rats showed higher infection rates (50%) than female rats (26.92%). Among age classes, adult rats had significantly higher infection ra tes (48.57%) than juvenile rats (21.05%). Correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between A. cantonensis infection intensity to the body length (r = 0.603;p = 0.001) and body weight (r = 0.715;p = 0.000) of rats. The study exe...
Source: Journal of Parasitic Diseases - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research