Angiostrongylus vasorum

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Angiostrongylus
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Nematoda
Class Secernentea
Order Strongylida
Family Metastrongyloidea
Genus Angiostrongylus
Species A. vasorum
Also known as: Haemostrongylus 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 then develop in the definitive host, and migrate via the mesenteric lymph nodes, and the blood where they affect the heart, primarily the right ventricle.