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Larval development of Angiostrongylus vasorum in the land snail Helix aspersa

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Abstract

The metastrongyloid nematode Angiostrongylus vasorum affects the heart and pulmonary arteries of dogs and wild animals. Over the recent years, dog angiostrongylosis has gained great attention in the veterinary community for the expansion of its geographic range and for a rise in the number of clinical cases. Global warming, changes in phenology of mollusc intermediate hosts and movements of wild reservoirs have been evocated in the spreading of mollusc-borne parasites, including A. vasorum. The land snail Helix aspersa, a vector of other respiratory metastrongyloids, is endemic in most regions of the World, where it is a pest outside its native Mediterranean range. In the present study, the susceptibility and suitability of H. aspersa as an intermediate host of A. vasorum were investigated along with the characteristics of larval recovery and development following two different ways of inoculation, i.e. experimental (group A) vs natural infection (group B). After infections, the snails were kept at environmental conditions for 2 months. Five snails from groups A and B were randomly selected, digested and examined at 15-day intervals for 2 months. L1s, L2s and L3s were microscopically identified based on key morphological and morphometric characteristics and their identity was genetically confirmed. The results showed that A. vasorum may reach the infective stage in H. aspersa and that uptake of larvae and parasitic burden within the snails depend on the grazing capability of the molluscs. Biological and epidemiological implications are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are particularly grateful to Dr. Carlo Pezzuto for his valuable contribution and to the dog owner for his willingness in participating in the study.

Ethical statement

The study design and procedures were approved and authorized by the Committee on Animal Research and Ethics of the Universities of Chieti-Pescara and Teramo (CEISA) (date and authorization number July 16, 2013, 46/2013/CEISA/COM).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. AdC holds a post-graduate fellow on research fields other than dog angiostrongylosis. The activities presented in the article have been performed according to her freedom of scientific research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy

    Angela Di Cesare, Paolo Emidio Crisi, Roberto Bartolini, Raffaella Iorio, Tonino Talone, Laura Filippi & Donato Traversa

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  1. Angela Di Cesare
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  2. Paolo Emidio Crisi
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  3. Roberto Bartolini
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  4. Raffaella Iorio
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  7. Donato Traversa
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Correspondence to Angela Di Cesare.

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Di Cesare, A., Crisi, P.E., Bartolini, R. et al. Larval development of Angiostrongylus vasorum in the land snail Helix aspersa . Parasitol Res 114, 3649–3655 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4592-y

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