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Angiostrongylus cantonensis in the vector snails Pomacea canaliculata and Achatina fulica in China: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Angiostrongyliasis is a food-borne parasitic disease induced by the nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis, and has been recognized as the main cause leading to human eosinophilic meningitis. Humans usually acquire infection by digestion of infected Pomacea canaliculata and Achatina fulica, the most predominant intermediate hosts found in China. This meta-analysis was aimed to assess the prevalence of A. cantonensis infection among these two snails in China in the past 10 years. Data were systematically collected in electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, CNKI, SinoMed, VIP, CSCD, and Wanfang from 2005 to 2015. Thirty-eight studies with a total of 41,299 P. canaliculata and 21,138 Ac. fulica were included in the present study. The overall infection rate of A. cantonensis in China was estimated to be 7.6 % (95 % confidential interval (CI) = 0.063 to 0.090) in P. canaliculata and 21.5 % in Ac. fulica (95 % CI = 0.184 to 0.245), respectively. No significant difference was observed in prevalence rates among publication year and sample size for both snails. Also, it was found that the prevalence in Ac. fulica is significantly higher than that in P. canaliculata (odds ratio (OR) = 3.946, 95 % CI = 3.070 to 5.073). The present study reveals that snail infection with A. cantonensis is clearly prevalent in China. Further studies are required to improve strategies for control of infections of snails, particularly those of Ac. fulica, and to detect further factors and conditions such as geographic region, temperatures, and diagnosis method.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 81271855, 81371836, 81261160324, and 81572023), the Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology, MOPH (grant no. WSBKTKT201401), the National Basic Research Program of China (grant no. 2010CB530004), Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (grant no. 2014A030313134), the 111 Project (grant no. B12003), and the Research Foundation for Students of Sun Yat-sen University (2012, 2014).

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    1. Department of Parasitology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510060, China

      Langui Song, Zhiyue Lv & Zhongdao Wu

    2. Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, 510080, China

      Langui Song, Zhiyue Lv & Zhongdao Wu

    3. School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510060, China

      Xiaowen Wang & Zi Yang

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    Langui Song, Xiaowen Wang and Zi Yang contributed equally to this work.

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    Song, L., Wang, X., Yang, Z. et al. Angiostrongylus cantonensis in the vector snails Pomacea canaliculata and Achatina fulica in China: a meta-analysis. Parasitol Res 115, 913–923 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4849-5

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