The prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis/mackerrasae complex in molluscs from the Sydney region

Chan, D; Barratt, J; Roberts, T; Lee, R; Shea, M; Marriott, D; Harkness, J; Malik, R; Jones, M; Aghazadeh, M; Ellis, J; Stark, D

The prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis/mackerrasae complex in molluscs from the Sydney region

Chan, D Barratt, J

Roberts, T Lee, R Shea, M Marriott, D Harkness, J Malik, R Jones, M Aghazadeh, M Ellis, J

Stark, D

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: PLoS ONE, 2015, 10 (5)
Issue Date:: 2015-05-22

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Chan, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Barratt, J https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8711-2408	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Roberts, T	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lee, R	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Shea, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Marriott, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Harkness, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Malik, R	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jones, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Aghazadeh, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ellis, J https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7328-4831	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Stark, D	en_US
dc.date.available	2015-04-22	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-05-22	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	PLoS ONE, 2015, 10 (5)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36219
dc.description.abstract	© 2015 Chan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Angiostrongylus mackerrasae are metastrongyloid nematodes that infect various rat species. Terrestrial and aquatic molluscs are intermediate hosts of these worms while humans and dogs are accidental hosts. Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the major cause of angiostrongyliasis, a disease characterised by eosinophilic meningitis. Although both A. cantonensis and A. mackerrasae are found in Australia, A. cantonensis appears to account for most infections in humans and animals. Due to the occurrence of several severe clinical cases in Sydney and Brisbane, the need for epidemiological studies on angiostrongyliasis in this region has become apparent. In the present study, a conventional PCR and a TaqMan assay were compared for their ability to amplify Angiostrongylus DNA from DNA extracted from molluscs. The TaqMan assay was more sensitive, capable of detecting the DNA equivalent to one hundredth of a nematode larva. Therefore, the TaqMan assay was used to screen molluscs (n=500) of 14 species collected from the Sydney region. Angiostrongylus DNA was detected in 2 of the 14 mollusc species; Cornu aspersum [14/ 312 (4.5%)], and Bradybaenia similaris [1/10 (10%)], which are non-native terrestrial snails commonly found in urban habitats. The prevalence of Angiostrongylus spp. was 3.0% ±0.8% (CI 95%). Additionally, experimentally infected Austropeplea lessoni snails shed A. cantonensis larvae in their mucus, implicating mucus as a source of infection. This is the first Australian study to survey molluscs using real-time PCR and confirms that the garden snail, C. aspersum, is a common intermediate host for Angiostrongylus spp. in Sydney.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	PLoS ONE	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1371/journal.pone.0128128	en_US
dc.subject.classification	General Science & Technology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Animals	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Angiostrongylus	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Angiostrongylus cantonensis	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Snails	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Strongylida Infections	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Molecular Sequence Data	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Australia	en_US
dc.title	The prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis/mackerrasae complex in molluscs from the Sydney region	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	10	en_US
utslib.for	0605 Microbiology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Students
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	5	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	10	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015 Chan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Angiostrongylus mackerrasae are metastrongyloid nematodes that infect various rat species. Terrestrial and aquatic molluscs are intermediate hosts of these worms while humans and dogs are accidental hosts. Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the major cause of angiostrongyliasis, a disease characterised by eosinophilic meningitis. Although both A. cantonensis and A. mackerrasae are found in Australia, A. cantonensis appears to account for most infections in humans and animals. Due to the occurrence of several severe clinical cases in Sydney and Brisbane, the need for epidemiological studies on angiostrongyliasis in this region has become apparent. In the present study, a conventional PCR and a TaqMan assay were compared for their ability to amplify Angiostrongylus DNA from DNA extracted from molluscs. The TaqMan assay was more sensitive, capable of detecting the DNA equivalent to one hundredth of a nematode larva. Therefore, the TaqMan assay was used to screen molluscs (n=500) of 14 species collected from the Sydney region. Angiostrongylus DNA was detected in 2 of the 14 mollusc species; Cornu aspersum [14/ 312 (4.5%)], and Bradybaenia similaris [1/10 (10%)], which are non-native terrestrial snails commonly found in urban habitats. The prevalence of Angiostrongylus spp. was 3.0% ±0.8% (CI 95%). Additionally, experimentally infected Austropeplea lessoni snails shed A. cantonensis larvae in their mucus, implicating mucus as a source of infection. This is the first Australian study to survey molluscs using real-time PCR and confirms that the garden snail, C. aspersum, is a common intermediate host for Angiostrongylus spp. in Sydney.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36219