Survey of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in rats and giant African land snails in Phitsanulok province,Thailand

<正>Objective:To survey the Angiostrongylus cantonensis(A.cantonensis) or the rat lungworm in a rat,definitive host,and in a giant African land snail(Achatina fulica),the intermediate host,in Phitsanulok,Thailand.Methods:Rats and giant African land snails were captured from Tha Pho sub-district,Phitsanulok,Thailand.Rats were killed and examined for adult A.cantonensis. The artificial digestion method following Baermann technique were used for isolation third stage larvae of A.cantonensis.Results:Sixty-two rats were captured and they were identified as Rattus argentiventer,Rattus rattus(R.rattus),Bandicota savilei,and Bandicota indica but only one animal(R.rattus) of 62 rats(1.61%) was positive with adult worm of A.cantonensis.The third stage larvae of A.cantonensis were examined on 307 Angiostrongylus fulica snails.It was found that the overall infection rate was 12.38%(38 infected out of 307 Achatina snails).Conclusions: This study demonstrates that A.cantonensis is available in the natural hosts of Phitsanulok.This suggests that the transmissions of this parasite to human may occur in this region.