Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01, Košice, Slovakia,
Parasitol Res. 2013 Oct;112(10):3505-8. doi: 10.1007/s00436-013-3532-y. Epub 2013 Jul 14.
Angiostrongylus vasorum is a metastrongyloid nematode that may cause cardiopulmonary disease, neurological signs and coagulopathies in dogs. The parasite has an indirect life cycle with molluscs as intermediate hosts, in which the infective third larval stage develops. Recently, A. vasorum has been repeatedly reported in dogs outside the endemic areas, indicating that this parasite is widely distributed over Europe. This is the first record of an autochthonous infection in a dog from Slovakia that was casually diagnosed during routine preventive parasitological examination. A. vasorum first-stage larvae were recovered using the Baermann technique and identified by length and characteristic tail morphology. The animal originated from Slovakia and had not travelled abroad. The dog had been regularly walked on grass fields with a concentrated presence of common species of Gastropoda and frogs. The owner reported that the dog had been licking and eating grass and it had shown curiosity for molluscs and frogs. The first finding of A. vasorum-infected dog in Slovakia has confirmed that the parasite is spreading beyond the traditional hyperendemic foci, which accentuates the need for monitoring and increasing of disease awareness in primary care clinical practice.
血管圆线虫是一种血矛线虫，可引起犬心肺疾病、神经症状和凝血功能障碍。该寄生虫具有间接生活史，以软体动物为中间宿主，在其中发育感染性的第三期幼虫。最近，在非流行地区的犬中反复报告有血管圆线虫感染，表明该寄生虫在欧洲广泛分布。这是首例在斯洛伐克犬中偶然诊断出的本地感染病例，该犬在常规寄生虫预防检查中被发现。使用贝尔曼技术回收血管圆线虫的一期幼虫，并通过长度和特征性尾部形态进行鉴定。该动物来自斯洛伐克，没有出国旅行。狗经常在有大量常见腹足纲和青蛙的草地上散步。主人报告说，狗一直在舔食和吃草，它对软体动物和青蛙表现出好奇。在斯洛伐克首次发现感染血管圆线虫的犬，证实该寄生虫正在传播超出传统的高度流行区，这强调了在初级保健临床实践中监测和提高疾病意识的必要性。
