Abstract
Biomphalaria glabrata snails were experimentally infected with Angiostrongylus vasorum first-stage larvae and divided into four groups of 30 snails. To assess the shedding of third-stage larvae (L3), the snails were maintained under different stimuli: group 1 60 W light bulb for 24 h, group 2 37 °C water bath for 24 h, group 3 room temperature (23–25 °C) for 24 h, Group 4 room temperature (23–25 °C) for up to 15 days. After 24 h, a total of 512 A. vasorum L3, alive and active, were released by snails from group 1, while 2,446 L3 were released from group 2 and five L3 from group 3. After 15 days, snails from group 4 released a total of 44 L3. To evaluate the infectivity of A. vasorum L3, two mongrel dogs were successfully infected with L3 released by snails from groups 1 and 2, confirming that the infection of dogs with A. vasorum L3 was possible, independently of ingestion of the mollusk intermediate host. The results shown in these experiments suggest that angiostrongylosis could be directly transmitted to the definitive hosts, with implications for the parasite′s life cycle.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dra. Leda Quercia Vieira for useful discussions and English review. The authors wish to thank the technical staff of the Schistosomiasis Laboratory (GIDE-UFMG) for supplying the Biomphalaria snails used in the experiments. The authors also thank Edna Maia for technical advice. The experimentation protocols complied with the current ethics laws of the Colégio Brasileiro de Experimentação Animal.
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Barçante, T.A., Barçante, J.M.d.P., Dias, S.R.C. et al. Angiostrongylus vasorum (Baillet, 1866) Kamensky, 1905: emergence of third-stage larvae from infected Biomphalaria glabrata snails. Parasitol Res 91, 471–475 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1000-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1000-9