Article
The giant African snail Achatina fulica as natural intermediate host of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in Pernambuco, northeast Brazil
Registro en:
THIENGO, Silvana Aparecida Rogel Carvalho et al. The giant African snail Achatina fulica as natural intermediate host of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in Pernambuco, northeast Brazil. Acta Trop., v. 115, n. 3, p. 194-199, Sept. 2010.
0001-706X
10.1016/j.actatropica.2010.01.005
Autor
Thiengo, Silvana Aparecida Rogel Carvalho
Maldonado Júnior, Arnaldo
Mota, Ester Maria
Torres, Eduardo José Lopes
Caldeira, Roberta Lima
Carvalho, Omar dos Santos
Oliveira, Ana Paula Martins de
Simões, R. O.
Fernandez, M. A.
Lanfredi, Reinalda Marisa
Resumen
The human cases of eosinophilic meningitis recently reported from Brazil have focused the attention of the public health agencies on the role the introduced snail Achatina fulicaplays as hosts of the metas-trongylid nematodes. Determining the potential of this snail to host and develop infective larval stages of metastrongylids in the wild and identify the species harbored by them is crucial for designing effective Control measures. Hereweassess IF A. fulicamayact as intermediatehost of A. cantonensisat theperidomi-ciliary areas of a patient’s house from state of Pernambuco (PE), who was diagnosed with eosinophilic meningitis and a history of ingesting rawmolluscs. Larvae obtained from naturally infected A.fulica were orally administered to Rattus norvegicus. The wormswere collected fromthe pulmonary artery and brain,and were morphologically characterizedandcompared to the Japan isolateof A. cantonensis. Adult worms and infective L3larvae (PE isolate) recovered from A. Fulica specimens were also analyzed by polymerasechain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism of ITS2 region from rDNA and compared to A. cantonensis (ES isolate), A. vasorum (MG isolate) and A.costaricensis (RS isolate). The large size of the spicules (greater than those observed in other species of Angiostrongylus) and the pattern of the bursal rays agree with the original species description by Chen (1935). Furthermore, the morphology of the PE isolate was similar to that of Japan isolate. The PCR-RFLP profiles obtainedweredistinctive among species and no variation in patterns was detected among adult individuals from A. cantonensis isolates from PE and ES. The importance of A. fulica as an intermediate host of eosinophilic menigoencepahlitis in Brazil is emphasized.