Detection of Crenosoma spp., Angiostrongylus vasorum and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in Gastropods in Eastern Austria

Abstract

Canine and feline cardiorespiratory parasites are of utmost relevance in veterinary medicine. Key epizootiological information on major pet metastrongyloids, i.e., Angiostrongylus vasorum and Crenosoma vulpis infecting dogs, and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus brevior infecting cats, is missing from Austria. This study investigated their occurrence in 1320 gastropods collected in the Austrian provinces of Styria, Burgenland, Lower Austria, and in metropolitan Vienna. Metastrongyloid larvae were microscopically detected in 25 samples, and sequence analysis confirmed the presence of metastrongyloids in nine samples, i.e., A. vasorum in one slug (Arion vulgaris) (0.07%), C. vulpis in five slugs (one Limax maximus and four A. vulgaris) (0.4%), A. abstrusus in two A. vulgaris (0.17%), and the hedgehog lungworm Crenosoma striatum was detected in one A. vulgaris. The present study confirms the enzooticity of major cardiorespiratory nematodes in Austria and that canine and feline populations are at risk of infection.

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus Infections in Domestic Cats (Felis silvestris catus) from Antioquia, Colombia

“…Then, the L1 are swallowed and leave the definitive host via the feces [4,5]. Exogenous L1 of A. abstrusus can survive in the environment for up to 60 days until they infect terrestrial snails and slugs (i.e., Arion lusitanicus, Limax maximus, Lissachatina fulica [3,6], Helix aspersa [7], Massylaea vermiculata and Helix lucorum [8] and Arion vulgaris [9]), which represent the obligate intermediate hosts [1]. In gastropods, L1 develops into second-(L2) and third-(L3) larval stage in approximately 2 weeks.…”

First Case of Clinical Cat Aelurostrongylosis in the Brazilian Amazon: Clinical and Molecular Insights

“…While diagnostic molecular tools are commonly used elsewhere for the unequivocal identification of lungworms infecting felids in both single clinical cases and epizootiological studies in intermediate and definitive hosts [ 4 , 5 , 8 , 10 , 15 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], they are less frequently used in South America due to the relatively high costs of these procedures and equipment in certain settings [ 24 ]. The morphological and morphometrical evaluation of L1 retrieved at the Baermann’s test require a well-trained expert operator and can be insufficient for a definitive identification to species of cardio-respiratory metastrongyloids affecting felines, i.e., A. abstrusus , Troglostrongylus spp., Oslerus rostratus and Angiostrongylus spp., as their larvae may present overlapping features [ 2 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…Females produce eggs that hatch within the parenchyma and release first stage larvae (L1) which reach the pharynx via the muco-ciliary escalator and are then swallowed and passed to the environment with the faeces [ 1 ]. The life cycle is indirect and L1 develop to the third (infective) larval stage (L3) inside different species of terrestrial gastropods (i.e., slugs or snails) that act as intermediate hosts [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. However, cats usually become infected ingesting paratenic hosts such as rodents, amphibians, birds and small reptiles [ 2 ].…”

Felid Cardiopulmonary Nematodes: Dilemmas Solved and New Questions Posed

“…On the other hand, some inherent data on the distribution of T. brevior and A. chabaudi have been generated from wild-caught gastropods. Angiostrongylus chabaudi has not been detected in any of the gastropods collected in Argentina [86], Brazil [87], Colombia [94], or Austria [88,95], while it was found in Greece [69]. However, T. brevior was found in Colombia and Austria [88,94] as well as Greece [69].…”