The rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a metastrongyloid nematode that causes neurological disorders in its accidental hosts, including humans. This invasive pathogen is native to Southeast Asia and adjacent regions and is gradually expanding its distribution to tropical and subtropical areas with new foci discovered near temperate regions. The parasite has a complex life cycle with a range of gastropods serving as intermediate hosts. A broad spectrum of poikilotherm vertebrates and invertebrates can serve as paratenic hosts. Since it has already been demonstrated that other, non-zoonotic metastrongyloids can survive in their intermediate hosts during the winter, the aim of our study was to evaluate the survival of A. cantonensis third-stage larvae in experimentally infected slugs (Limax maximus) kept at 4.5–7°C for 60 days. Third-stage larvae of A. cantonensis survived the period of low temperature and remained capable of infecting definitive hosts (laboratory rats) afterwards, even though their numbers dropped significantly. These results suggest that further spread to higher latitudes or altitudes is possible in areas with sufficient abundance of definitive hosts, since low winter temperatures are not necessarily an obstacle to the spread of the parasite.

Department of Botany and Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Pediatrics Preventive Medicine and Public Health Toxicology Legal and Forensic Medicine and Parasitology Universidad de La Laguna La Laguna Canary Islands Spain

Department of Veterinary Sciences Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources CINeZ Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Parasitology Biology Center of Czech Academy of Sciences Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias Universidad de La Laguna La Laguna Canary Islands Spain

University of Veterinary Sciences Brno Palackého tř 1946 1 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

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