Detection of Crenosoma spp., Angiostrongylus vasorum and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in Gastropods in Eastern Austria

Abstract

Canine and feline cardiorespiratory parasites are of utmost relevance in veterinary medicine. Key epizootiological information on major pet metastrongyloids, i.e., <i>Angiostrongylus vasorum</i> and <i>Crenosoma vulpis</i> infecting dogs, and <i>Aelurostrongylus abstrusus</i> and <i>Troglostrongylus brevior</i> infecting cats, is missing from Austria. This study investigated their occurrence in 1320 gastropods collected in the Austrian provinces of Styria, Burgenland, Lower Austria, and in metropolitan Vienna. Metastrongyloid larvae were microscopically detected in 25 samples, and sequence analysis confirmed the presence of metastrongyloids in nine samples, i.e., <i>A. vasorum</i> in one slug (<i>Arion vulgaris</i>) (0.07%), <i>C. vulpis</i> in five slugs (one <i>Limax maximus</i> and four <i>A. vulgaris</i>) (0.4%), <i>A. abstrusus</i> in two <i>A. vulgaris</i> (0.17%), and the hedgehog lungworm <i>Crenosoma striatum</i> was detected in one <i>A. vulgaris</i>. The present study confirms the enzooticity of major cardiorespiratory nematodes in Austria and that canine and feline populations are at risk of infection.