Australian Wildlife Health Network

Forum : Diseases and disease agents

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Topic:Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Rat lung worm)
Name:R Woods	Date:
Email:rwoods@zoo.nsw.gov.au	Phone:

Name	Date Of Event	Posted	Details
T Grillo	05/05/2010	07/06/2010	ProMED: Eosinophilic meningitis – NSW, Australia (1 & 2): human ex slug 15/5/2010 ProMED (1): http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:4632696937484284::::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_ARCHIVE_NUMBER,F2400_P1001_USE_ARCHIVE:1001,20100515.1584,Y and source article: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/OddSpot/2010/05/13/Man_who_ate_slug_critically_ill_461671.html Angiostrongylus meningitis in Australian man. ProMED (2): Eosinophilic meningitis – Australia: posted: 16/5/2010 http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:4632696937484284::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,82736
David Spratt		20/04/2009	Apropos your comment "The precise pathway of infection remains to be demonstrated" accompanying the report of Angiostrongylus infection in people in Thailand acquired from eating raw snails in the recent AWHN Digest I thought that you might be interested in this little tabulation that I have compiled (available on request - Mod RW). In fact, we have a pretty good knowledge of some of the precise pathways of infection of this parasite in Australian hosts, including humans. The one pathway that has not yet been precisely clarified is how all those tawny frogmouths in the northern suburbs of Sydney become infected. My own "gut feeling" (and it is only that) is that these infections offer a pretty good idea about some of the dietary items of tawnies....snails, slugs and possibly planarians. We have asked Dave if he can prepare a fact sheet on Angiostrongylus for the Network and will let subscribers know when it becomes available.
R Woods		15/04/2009	Angiostrongylus from raw snails in Taiwan http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan /archives/2009/03/27/2003439499 Though this article relates to Japan, it reminds us that this is a zoonosis and that neural angiostrongyliasis is well recognised in some Australian native mammals and birds. The current known distribution of A. cantonensis in Australia is northern and south-eastern QLD and the Sydney region. The precise pathway of infection remains to be demonstrated. Interestingly, temporally clustered outbreaks of infection with A. cantonensis are seen in Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) in some areas of Sydney, NSW at some times of the year in some years. It would be interesting to see if these increased reports are associated with increased reports of the condition in humans. Perhaps Tany Frogmouths could be used as sentinels for humans/ small children?
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