ON THE INCIDENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAT LUNGWORM ANGIOSTRONGYLUS CANTONENSIS IN THE COOK ISLANDS, WITH OBSERVATIONS MADE IN NEW ZEALAND AND WESTERN SAMOA

Abstract

Of a total of 240 rats examined on the island of Rarotonga, 85.0% showed lungworm infection. No lungworms were found among 61 rats trapped in and around Auckland, New Zealand, and none among 95 rats trapped in the vicinity of Apia, Western Samoa. Of land mollusks examined on the island of Rarotonga, the following species were found infected with lungworm larvae: (slugs) Deroceras laeve and Vaginalus plebeius, and (snails) Bradybaena similaris and Subulina octona. In addition, a few infective larvae were found among land planarians and freshwater prawns, both of which serve as paratenic hosts. The finding of the rat lungworm on the island of Rarotonga offers an additional example in the Pacific of the occurrence of this parasite in an area where human eosinophilic meningitis occurs.