Abstract
Snail-borne lungworms exert an enormous toll on the health and welfare of animals and humans. Of these parasites, Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus brevior affect the respiratory tract of felids. These lungworms share both the ecological niche and the species of snail (Helix aspersa) acting as intermediate host. Recently, the ability of H. aspersa to shed infective third-stage larvae (L3s) of A. abstrusus and T. brevior in the environment has been demonstrated, matching previous knowledge of mode of transmission of zoonotic lungworms. Here, we evaluated, for the first time, the ability of A. abstrusus and T. brevior L3s to infect new, susceptible snail hosts following their release from experimentally infected molluscs, and refer to this novel route of parasite transmission as intermediesis. The implications of snail-to-snail transmission in the epidemiology of snail-borne diseases are also discussed.
Highlights
Respiratory tract where they release first-stage larvae (L1s), which are excreted with the host faeces and penetrate suitable snail intermediate hosts, where they develop to L3s22
In order to assess the potential of L3s to infect naïve intermediate hosts, 24 pathogen-free H. aspersa snails were each experimentally infected with 50 L3s of either A. abstrusus or T. brevior
In this article we report, for the first time, snail-to-snail transmission of A. abstrusus L3s from infected to naïve H. aspersa
Summary
Respiratory tract where they release first-stage larvae (L1s), which are excreted with the host faeces and penetrate suitable snail intermediate hosts, where they develop to L3s22 These nematodes share both the ecological niche and the gastropod species acting as intermediate host (e.g., Helix aspersa)[23]; very recently, our group has demonstrated the ability of infected H. aspersa to excrete infective L3s of both lungworms in the environment via the mucus or following death of the snail[24]. Despite this evidence, very little is known of the biology of these parasites in their snail intermediate hosts. In this study we (i) assess the potential of nematode transmission from infected to naïve susceptible snails; and (ii) evaluate the survival time of A. abstrusus and T. brevior L3s in the environment
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