Teem John L, Qvarnstrom Yvonne, Bishop Henry S, da Silva Alexandre J, Carter Jacoby, White-McLean Jodi, Smith Trevor
Division of Aquaculture, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Tallahassee, FL 32301, USA.
Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2013 Jun;72(6 Suppl 2):11-4.
Nonindigenous apple snails, Pomacea maculata (formerly Pomacea insularum), are currently spreading rapidly through the southeastern United States. This mollusk serves as an intermediate host of the rat lungworm parasite (Angiostrongylus cantonensis), which can cause eosinophilic meningitis in humans who consume infected mollusks. A PCR-based detection assay was used to test nonindigenous apple snails for the rat lungworm parasite in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida. Only apple snails obtained from the New Orleans, Louisiana, area tested positive for the parasite. These results provide the first evidence that Angiostrongylus cantonensis does occur in nonindigenous apple snails in the southeastern United States. Additionally, Angiostrongylus cantonensis was identified in the terrestrial species Achatina fulica in Miami, Florida, indicating that rat lungworm is now established in Florida as well as Louisiana. Although the study suggests that the rat lungworm is not widespread in the Gulf States region, the infected snail population could still pose a risk to human health and facilitate the spread of the parasite to new areas.
外来苹果螺，即黄斑苹果螺（原称岛苹果螺），目前正在美国东南部迅速扩散。这种软体动物是鼠肺线虫寄生虫（广州管圆线虫）的中间宿主，食用受感染软体动物的人可能会感染这种寄生虫而患上嗜酸性粒细胞性脑膜炎。在路易斯安那州、得克萨斯州、密西西比州和佛罗里达州，采用基于聚合酶链反应（PCR）的检测方法对非本地苹果螺进行鼠肺线虫寄生虫检测。只有从路易斯安那州新奥尔良地区采集的苹果螺检测出寄生虫呈阳性。这些结果首次证明，美国东南部的非本地苹果螺体内确实存在广州管圆线虫。此外，在佛罗里达州迈阿密的陆地物种非洲大蜗牛体内也发现了广州管圆线虫，这表明鼠肺线虫在佛罗里达州和路易斯安那州均已存在。尽管该研究表明鼠肺线虫在海湾州地区分布并不广泛，但受感染的蜗牛种群仍可能对人类健康构成风险，并促使寄生虫传播到新的地区。
