Abdominal angiostrongylosis is a nematode infection of wild rodents.
Human infection may result in severe abdominal disease and has been
reported from several countries in the Americas. The domestic mouse,
Mus musculus, has not been found with natural infection and, like
other urban rodents, should not be considered a natural host for
Angiostrongylus costaricensis. Quantification of parasitic forms
released for transmission may better express the coevolutionary status in
parasite-host relationship. With this objective, five groups of
experimentally infected Swiss mice were followed for up to 155 days
post-infection (PI) days and the quantification of first stage larvae (L1)
output revealed: an irregular elimination of L1 and a huge variation in the
patency period (1 to 114 days) and in the number of L1 eliminated daily by
individual animals (1 to 6340 L1/g). Overall mortality was 72% (range: 28%
to 100%) at seven weeks PI. In conclusion, abdominal angiostrongylosis in
M. musculus presents high mortality and a very variable and
irregular elimination of L1 in feces.
