Angiostrongylus vasorum

Also known as:

Haemostrongylus vasorum

Scientific Classification

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Nematoda
Class	Secernentea
Order	Strongylida
Family	Metastrongylidae
Genus	Angiostrongylus
Species	A. vasorum

Hosts

Definitive host: Dogs and foxes. Intermediate host: Mainly snails and slugs.

Identification

The adults are slender, and measure around 2cm in length. The males have a small bursa.

Life Cycle

The adults are ovo-viviparous. The adults lay eggs in the pulmonary arteries. The eggs then hatch in the capillaries. The first stage larvae migrate into the alveoli and then the trachea. They are swallowed, enter the intestinal system and are then past in the faeces. The intermediate host then become infected, which later infect the definitive host.

The larvae the develop into the definitive host, and migrate via the mesenteric lymph nodes, and the blood where they affect the heart, primarily the right ventricle.

Epidemiology

Once restricted to Southern Ireland and Cornwall, this lungworm is spreading across the British Isles and is now endemic in the South-East. The fox may act as a reservoir of infection.

Angiostrongylosis