RT Book, Section
A1 Rosenthal, Philip J.
A2 Papadakis, Maxine A.
A2 McPhee, Stephen J.
A2 Rabow, Michael W.
SR Print(0)
ID 1166620048
T1 Angiostrongyliasis
T2 Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 2020
YR 2020
FD 2020
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781260455281
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1166620048
RD 2022/05/27
AB Nematodes  of  rats  of  the  genus  Angiostrongylus  cause  two  distinct  syndromes  in  humans.  Angiostrongylus  cantonensis,  the  rat  lungworm,  causes  eosinophilic  meningoencephalitis,  primarily  in  Southeast  Asia  and  some  Pacific  islands,  but  with  multiple  recent  reports  also  from  the  Americas,  Hawaii,  and  Australia.  In  one  study,  A  cantonensis  was  responsible  for  67%  of  evaluable  cases  of  eosinophilic  meningitis  in  Vietnam.  Angiostrongylus  costaricensis  causes  gastrointestinal  inflammation.  In  both  diseases,  human  infection  follows  ingestion  of  larvae  within  slugs  or  snails  (and  also  crabs,  prawns,  or  centipedes  for  A  cantonensis)  or  on  material  contaminated  by  these  organisms.  Since  the  parasites  are  not  in  their  natural  hosts,  they  cannot  complete  their  life  cycles,  but  they  can  cause  disease  after  migrating  to  the  brain  or  gastrointestinal  tract.