First report of Angiostrongylus vasorum in coyotes in mainland North America

Abstract

Angiostrongylus vasorum, commonly known as French heartworm, is a metastrongyloid nematode widely distributed in Europe, South America and Africa. This helminth uses gastropods as intermediate hosts, and has as deinitive hosts various species of canids including foxes, coyotes and domestic dogs. Clinical signs of A vasorum include respiratory distress and bleeding disorders. Infection may take months to detect and present no clinical signs, but can also lead to death. As part of a larger study on coyotes, helminths were extracted from tracheae, hearts and lungs using a lushing technique. Four out of 284 coyotes were infected with A vasorum, conirmed by sequencing the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) on the mitochondrial genome. To our knowledge, this is only the second report of coyotes infected with A vasorum in North America, and the irst for mainland North America. Veterinarians now need to watch for clinical signs of this parasite in domestic dogs. Coyotes (Canis latrans) evolved in savannah, prairie and woodland habitats, 1 but now are commonly found in urban areas. 2-4 As contact becomes more frequent between coyotes and humans, coyotes have begun ingesting higher proportions of anthropogenic food. 4-7 This change in diet brings coyotes into close contact with domestic dogs (C familiaris), leading to increased risk of both species exchanging parasites and permitting prolonged duration of parasitic outbreaks. 8 Helminths shared between domestic dogs that commonly infect

Conquering Switzerland: the emergence of Angiostrongylus vasorum in foxes over three decades and its rapid regional increase in prevalence contrast with the stable occurrence of lungworms

“…Switzerland was entirely included, with differing levels of predicted suitability (Morgan et al ., 2009). The spread of A. vasorum , as predicted by the model, has also been recently described from previously parasite-free areas (or areas with unknown presence) such as Romania (Deak et al ., 2017), Belgium (Jolly et al ., 2015), the Czech Republic (Hajnalová et al ., 2017), Slovakia (Hurnikova et al ., 2013) and even mainland North America (Priest et al ., 2018). Here we show that A. vasorum has successfully established in the Swiss fox population, reaching regional prevalences of more than 80%.…”

Detection of heartworm antigen without cross-reactivity to helminths and protozoa following heat treatment of canine serum

“…Parasitic infections in North America known to cross-react with heartworm tests include A. vasorum and S. lupi, both rarely reported and often asymptomatic, can be diagnosed using different means and therefore, differentiated from D. immits [ 41 , 42 ]. In North America, A. vasorum is considered an emerging threat and is endemic in wild canids of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 41 , 43 ] with a single case report from a red fox from West Virginia, USA [ 44 ]. Spirocerca lupi is endemic in wild canid populations in the southeastern US and has been reported in bobcats, grey and red foxes, and coyotes in Florida, USA [ 45 ].…”

Annotated catalogue of species of Angiostrongylus and the related genera Gallegostrongylus, Rodentocaulus and Stefanskostrongylus (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea, Angiostrongylidae)

“…Various species of fox, wolf, coyote and jackal (Canidae), European otter ( Lutra lutra Linnaeus), ferret ( Mustela putorius Linnaeus), stoat ( Mustela erminea Linnaeus) weasel ( Mustela nivalis Linnaeus), badger ( Meles meles ) and red panda ( Ailurus fulgens Cuvier) (Musteloidea), and meerkat ( Suricata suricatta ; in captivity) (Herpestidae) (e.g. Koch & Willesen, 2009: 349; Spratt, 2015: 181; Gillis-Germitsch et al ., 2017; Valente et al ., 2018: 149; Priest et al ., 2018). Intermediate hosts .…”