First report of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in St. Kitts

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

“…The presence of A. abstrusus in domestic cats, as well as natural intermediate hosts, is a fact [ 13 ], and thus it should be included in the differential diagnoses of feline pulmonary disorders in Colombia. The Baermann funnel technique is the most viable and cheapest diagnostic tool for this neglected pulmonary parasitosis [ 17 ]. It is very important to include this technique in routine coproparasitological diagnosis by veterinary surgeons dedicated to small animals and wildlife conservation within Colombian territories.…”

“…Clinical symptoms include respiratory signs such as dyspnoea, abdominal breathing, coughing, sneezing and mucopurulent nasal discharge [ 10 , 11 ]. Aelurostrongylus abstrusus infections have been reported in several parts of the world; recently in Greece [ 12 ] and Italy [ 13 ] and also detected in other countries of Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) [ 14 ], in the USA [ 15 , 16 ], the Eastern Caribbean [ 17 ], and also in South American wildlife felid species, including jaguarundis ( Puma yagouaroundi ), margay ( Leopardus wiedii ) [ 18 ], and oncilla ( Leopardus tigrinus ) [ 19 ]. All these wild felid species are endemic within diverse regions of Colombia together with the presence of adequate intermediate hosts, which may contribute to A. abstrusus sylvatic life-cycle [ 3 , 20 ].…”

Neumonía por Aelurostrongylus abstrusus en un Leopardus tigrinus: Estudio de caso

“…Molecular techniques such as PCR may be useful to confirm the identity of parasite species in animal tissues. Since extraction of DNA with suitable quality for PCR is not an easy procedure from formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissues, recently, the morphological characterization of A. abstrusus and Angiostrongylus chabaudi and the location of adult nematodes was proposed as an alternative methodology to differentiate them (Wulcan et al, 2020). In addition, Giannelli and collaborators summarized the main lesions observed in different feline metastrongyloid infections and reported that A. abstrusus is usually present in respiratory bronchioles and alveolar ducts while species of Angiostrongylus mainly affects the pulmonary arteries (Giannelli et al, 2016).…”

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 ]. This is particularly true for areas where bridging infections and parasite-sharing is favoured, i.e., where wild felids and domestic cats live in sympatry or have overlapping distribution areas and may be infected by more than one lungworm [ 2 , 15 , 47 ].…”

“…Over time, aelurostrongylosis has been recorded mostly from Europe in both domestic [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ] and wild [ 16 , 17 , 18 ] felines. Epizootiological information from other territories are patchy and limited, though the presence of the parasite is known for instance, in South Africa [ 19 ], Australia [ 20 ] and North [ 21 , 22 ] and Insular Americas [ 23 ]. Fragmentary information is available on the distribution of A. abstrusus in South America, where very recently this nematode has been declared to be neglected and underestimated [ 24 ].…”