Tadpole of the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, as an experimental intermediate host of Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Frogs and toads, as paratenic hosts, are known to be sources of human angiostrongyliasis. The present investigation was carried out to examine the role of the tadpole as an experimental intermediate host. First-, second-, and third-stage larvae were found in tadpoles of Xenopus laevis from the 1st, 14th, and 18th days, respectively, after exposure to the first-stage larva of Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Third-stage larvae collected from a frog which had metamorphosed from an exposed tadpole reached maturity and oviposited in an albino rat. This is the first demonstration that a vertebrate, the tadpole of X. laevis, can serve as an experimental intermediate host of A. cantonensis.