RESEARCH ARTICLE The Prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis/mackerrasae Complex in Molluscs from the Sydney Region Douglas Chan1,2*, Joel Barratt2,3, Tamalee Roberts1, Rogan Lee4, Michael Shea5, Deborah Marriott1, John Harkness1, Richard Malik6, Malcolm Jones7, Mahdis Aghazadeh7, John Ellis3, Damien Stark1 1 Department of Microbiology, SydPath, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Victoria St, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia, 2 i3 Institute, University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia, 3 School of Medical and Molecular Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia, 4 Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services, ICPMR, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia, 5 Malacology Department, Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 6 Centre for Veterinary Education, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia, 7 School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, a11111 Gatton, Queensland, Australia *
[email protected] Abstract Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Angiostrongylus mackerrasae are metastrongyloid nema- OPEN ACCESS todes that infect various rat species. Terrestrial and aquatic molluscs are intermediate hosts Citation: Chan D, Barratt J, Roberts T, Lee R, Shea of these worms while humans and dogs are accidental hosts. Angiostrongylus cantonensis M, Marriott D, et al. (2015) The Prevalence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis/mackerrasae Complex is the major cause of angiostrongyliasis, a disease characterised by eosinophilic meningitis. in Molluscs from the Sydney Region. PLoS ONE Although both A. cantonensis and A. mackerrasae are found in Australia, A. cantonensis ap- 10(5): e0128128. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128128 pears to account for most infections in humans and animals. Due to the occurrence of sev- Academic Editor: Henk D. F. H. Schallig, Royal eral severe clinical cases in Sydney and Brisbane, the need for epidemiological studies on Tropical Institute, NETHERLANDS angiostrongyliasis in this region has become apparent.