Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in a stray cat’s blood stream

Abstract

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Raillet), the cat lungworm, is a parasitic round worm which lives in the terminal bronchioles and the alveolar ducts inside the lungs of cats as final hosts. Snails or slugs can be intermediate hosts while rodents, frogs, toads, lizards, birds, and snakes can play the role of transporter from the intermediate host into the final host. The ingested third-stage larvae migrate towards the lungs through the blood vessels. In this research, first, the observation of A. abstrusus infection in a stray cat in Iran is described. Later, the larval detection of this worm in infected cat’s blood throughout the world will be discussed.