Angiostrongylus cantonensisThe female adult had a characteristic barber-like appearance (the front end of the insect is up). Scale bar = 1 mm. “/> adult female insect Angiostrongylus cantonensis It was recovered from the lungs of rats and has a distinctive barber’s pole appearance (with the front end of the worm on top). Scale bar = 1 mm.
The deadly rat lungworm, a parasite that likes to eat rats and slugs and sometimes moves and writhes around in human brains, is well established in the southeastern United States and is likely to continue its rapid invasion. is high. Research published this week suggests.
The study included small-scale monitoring of dead rats at Zoo Atlanta. From 2019 to 2022, researchers continually found evidence of this worm. In this study, 7 of 33 rats (21%) collected were found to have evidence of rat lungworm infection. The infected animals all spread in different months during the study period, with one animal in 2019, three in 2021, and three in 2022, showing persistent infection.
Although small in scale, the study “suggests that zoonotic parasites have been introduced and established in new areas of the southeastern United States,” said the study, led by researchers at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. The authors concluded. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
This finding is alarming given the devastating infection of rat lungworm, also known as rat lungworm. Angiostrongylus cantonensis, can be caused in humans. Parasitic nematodes, as their name suggests, are usually found in rats. However, they have complex life cycles that can be fatal if interrupted.
disease cycle
Adult worms usually live in the arteries around the lungs of rats, hence the rat lungworm. There they mate and lay eggs. The worm’s larvae then fly out of the lungs and are coughed up and swallowed by the rat, which eventually excretes its feces. From there, the larvae are picked up by slugs and snails. This can occur if the gastropod eats rat feces, or if the voracious larva bites into its soft body. The larvae then grow inside the slug or snail and ideally are eventually eaten by a mouse. Returning to the rat, the late larvae penetrate the intestine and enter the bloodstream, where they travel to the rat’s central nervous system and brain. There they mature into subadults and then migrate to the lungs, where they become full adults and mate, completing the cycle.
Humans become accidental hosts in a variety of ways. You may eat undercooked snails or accidentally eat infected slugs or snails hidden in your unwashed salad. Infected snails and slugs may also be first eaten by other animals such as frogs, shrimp, shrimp, and river crabs. If humans then eat those animals before they are fully cooked, they can become infected.
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gross.
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A semi-slug, which transmits rat lungworm disease, stuck to a garbage bag in Hana last week.
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Angiostrongylus cantonensis Third stage (L3), infective larvae recovered from slugs. Image taken under a differential interference contrast (DIC) microscope.
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A. costaricensis Stage 1 (L1) larvae in human intestinal tissue
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A. cantonensis Adult worms recovered from the vitreous humor of a human patient. The bursa is one indication that this is a male worm.
Once rat lungworms enter the human body, they travel toward the central nervous system and brain, just as they do in rats. In some cases, nematode migration to the central nervous system may be asymptomatic or cause only mild, transient symptoms. However, in some cases, it can cause severe neurological dysfunction. It begins with nonspecific symptoms such as headaches, photosensitivity, and insomnia, and can progress to stiffness or pain in the neck, tingling or burning sensation in the skin, double vision, bowel or bladder difficulties, and seizures. . In severe cases, it can cause nerve damage, paralysis, coma, and even death.
