This study summarizes the findings of a comprehensive field investigation into the presence of Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a zoonotic nematode responsible for meningitis, in selected regions of the eastern Mediterranean. Samples were collected from intermediate hosts (gastropods), definitive hosts (rats), and potential paratenic hosts (reptiles) across Cyprus and the northern part of Egypt. Reptile and gastropod samples were analysed using a species-specific and highly sensitive LAMP assay, while rats were dissected and examined for adult nematodes in their pulmonary arteries. All samples from the surveyed localities tested negative for the parasite and its DNA. These findings led the authors to conclude that A. cantonensis is either absent or occurs at a very low prevalence in the areas studied in the eastern Mediterranean.

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

Department of Organic Crop Production Faculty of Organic Agriculture Heliopolis University Cairo Egypt

Department of Pathology and Parasitology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Veterinary Sciences Brno Brno Czech Republic

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

Department of Zoology and Agricultural Nematology Faculty of Agriculture Cairo University Giza Egypt

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

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