Aelurostrongylus abstrusus
| Aelurostrongylus abstrusus | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aelurostrongylus abstrusus | ||||||||||||
| ( Railliet , 1898) |
Aelurostrongylus abstrusus among the most common parasites of the lungs in cats . It occurs worldwide. In cats in Germany and Denmark, the parasite was found in a recent study in 5.6% of the animals.
Life cycle
The adult animals are between 7 (male) and 10 mm (female) long. The adult animals live buried deep in the lungs of the host animal. The eggs are in the alveoli set (alveoli), where the first-instar larvae hatch. They then migrate upwards, where they then enter the digestive tract by swallowing and are excreted.
The larva can survive for about two weeks and has to find a snail as an intermediate host. This becomes infected when a larva crawls over it, as it can then penetrate its foot. In the snail, the larva develops to stage 2 after approx. 12 days and to the third stage after 18 days.
The infected snail must now be eaten by a bird, lizard or mouse, etc. The larvae then nest in the transport host. If the new host is now eaten by a cat, the larvae migrate from the stomach via the abdomen to the lungs within 24 hours. After about a month, larvae can be found in the faeces again.
Symptoms, diagnosis and control
→ Main article: Aelurostrongylosis
Lungworm infestation rarely causes symptoms in cats. The symptoms of massive infestation are very unspecific. General weakness, chronic cough, nasal and eye discharge develop. The diagnosis is made via an x-ray of the lungs and a Baermann-Wetzel test . It is combated with anthelmintics such as fenbendazole , emodepside or ivermectin .
literature
- Lung worm disease in cats caused by Aelurostrongylus abstrusus . In: Tijdschrift voor diergeneeskunde. 1995; 120 (9), ISSN 0040-7453 , pp. 263-266. (abstract)
- Larval development of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (Nematoda, Angiostrongylidae) in experimentally infected Cernuella (Cernuella) virgata (Mollusca, Helicidae) . In: Parasitology Research. 2005; 95 (1), ISSN 0932-0113 , pp. 13-16. (abstract)
Individual evidence
- ↑ A. Taubert et al .: Lungworm infections (Angiostrogylus vasorum, Crenosoma vulpis, Aelurostrongylus abstrusus) in dogs and cats in Germany and Denmark in 2003-2007. In: Veterinary Parasitology. 159 (2009), pp. 175-180.
