Angiostrongylus cantonensis in North African hedgehogs as vertebrate hosts, Mallorca, Spain, October 2018

Abstract

In October 2018, two <i>Atelerix algirus</i> hedgehogs were admitted to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) with signs of acute neurological disease. Necropsy detected immature, fully developed nematodes in the subarachnoid space of both hedgehogs, including a gravid female worm. DNA-based molecular tools confirmed the nematode as <i>Angiostrongylus cantonensis</i>, an important aetiological agent of eosinophilic meningitis in humans. So far this zoonotic parasite in has not been reported in western European wildlife.