Susceptibility of Biomphalaria glabrata submitted to concomitant infection with Angiostrongylus costaricensis and Schistosoma mansoni.

L R Guerino,E M Zanotti-Magalhães,J F Carvalho,L A Magalhães

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.15215

L R Guerino, E M Zanotti-Magalhães + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.15215

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Abstract

The easy adaptation of Angiostrongylus costaricensis, nematode responsible for abdominal angiostrongyliasis to several species of terrestrial and freshwater molluscs and the differences observed in the interactions of trematodes with their intermediate hosts have induced us to study the concomitant infection of Biomphalaria glabrata with Schistosoma mansoni and A. costaricensis. Prior exposure of B. glabrata to A. costaricensis (with an interval of 48 hours), favored the development of S. mansoni, observing higher infection rate, increased release of cercariae and increased survival of molluscs, when compared to molluscs exposed only to S. mansoni. Prior exposure of B. glabrata to A. costaricensis and then to S. mansoni also enabled the development of A. costaricensis since in the ninth week of infection, higher amount of A. costaricensis L3 larvae was recovered (12 larvae / mollusc) while for molluscs exposed only to A. costaricensis, the number of larvae recovered was lower (8 larvae / mollusc). However, pre-exposure of B. glabrata to S. mansoni (with an interval of 24 hours), and subsequently exposure to A. costaricensis proved to be very harmful to B. glabrata, causing extensive mortality of molluscs, reduced pre-patent period to release cercariae and greater recovery of L3 A. costaricensis larvae.

Highlights

The intermediate hosts of Angiostrongylus costaricensis are usually slugs of the family Veronicellidae, of genus Sarasinula (Thiengo, 1996) and Phyllocaulis (Graeff-Teixeira et al, 1989)
Group III showed the highest number of molluscs positive to S. mansoni, with 96.7%, followed by group I with 73.3% and Group IV with 63.3% (Table 1)
Previous exposure to B. glabrata and A. costaricensis increased the susceptibility of snails to infection by S. mansoni

Summary

Introduction

The intermediate hosts of Angiostrongylus costaricensis are usually slugs of the family Veronicellidae, of genus Sarasinula (Thiengo, 1996) and Phyllocaulis (Graeff-Teixeira et al, 1989). Other types of terrestrial molluscs such as Limax maximus, Limax flavus, and Bradybaena similaris were found naturally infected (Graeff-Teixeira et al, 1993). Freshwater snails Biomphalaria tenagophila, Biomphalaria straminea and Biomphalaria glabrata are susceptible to A. costaricensis in experimental conditions (Lima et al, 1992).

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