Dealing With Angiostrongyliasis as a Priority Within One Health Perspective

The global impacts of emerging and endemic zoonoses on both animal and human populations make it vital to foster collaboration among health sectors. Using a multisectoral One Health approach is a critical step toward improving both animal and human health.Parasitic worm infections rank among the most prevalent and underestimated infections in humans and animals. Most emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in nature, which means they affect humans and at least one other vertebrate species. Human angiostrongyliasis, caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Angiostrongylus costaricensis, is an important foodborne zoonosis, for which humans are accidental hosts. The natural life cycle of these parasitic nematodes involves transmission between vertebrates, mainly rodents (the definitive hosts) and terrestrial or freshwater mollusks (the intermediate hosts). Human infection is usually the result of eating a raw or undercooked host species, predominantly mollusks, as well as lizards, frogs, crustaceans, centipedes, and fish. A. cantonensis is primarily associated with eosinophilic meningitis (neuroangiostrongyliasis), whereas A. costaricensis is linked with abdominal angiostrongyliasis, both of which are difficult to treat.