Verminous meningoencephalomyelitis by Angiostrongylus(=Parastrongylus) cantonensis in an American Miniature

摘要

Angiostrongylus(=Parastrongylus) cantonensis, a lung parasite of rats, particularly Rattus norvegicus, is responsible for cases of human eosinophilic meningoencephalitis reported from the Pacific Basin and Asia(Alicata 1962). More recently, infection by A.cantonensis has been identified in several parts of the world,indicating the global dispersal of this zoonotic disease(Kliks and Palumbo 1992). In the rat, infective larvae migrate to the central nervous system(CNS) and then to the lungs where they become adults in the vascular system (Fig 1). In a nonpermissive host, such as man, they become aberrant migrators in the CNS(Alicata 1962). Natural CNS infection by Angiostrongylus cantonensis has also been reported in dogs(Mason et al.1976; Mason 1987), wallaby(McKenzie et al.1978) and horses in Australia(Wright et al.1991). The parasite was presumptively introduced into the USA at the port of New Orleans sometime before 1988(Campbell and Little 1988). Since then, cases in human(New et al.1995) and nonhuman primates(Gardiner et al.1990) have been reported.