The study was to understand
Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection status in host animals and populations in Shenzhen. In 2016-2017, 10 different ecological environments were selected, and intermediate and definitive hosts collected at the sites were examined using the
enzyme digestion and dissection method to determine their
infection status. Meanwhile, serum was collected from outpatients and healthy people. The
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay test was performed to detect serum
IgG-specific
antibodies to A. cantonensis, and serological characteristics of the populations were analyzed. A total of 300 Achatina fulica samples had an A. cantonensis
infection rate of 10.67% (32/300) and an average
infection intensity of 68.7 per snail, whereas 302 Pomacea canaliculata samples had an
infection rate of 6.29% (19/302) and an average
infection intensity of 31.4 per snail. Although both
infection rate and
infection intensity were lower in P. canaliculata than in A. fulica,
infection intensity was significantly different (p < 0.001). Among 238 definitive-host rodents, 22 were infected with A. cantonensis. The
infection rate in Rattus norvegicus was 14.68% (16/109), significantly higher than that in Rattus flavipectus (p < 0.05). The seroprevalence of A. cantonensis in the 900 outpatients and 1500 healthy people was 7.11% (64/900) and 1.87% (28/1500), respectively. Thus, the
infection rate was significantly higher in outpatients than in healthy people in Shenzhen (p < 0.001). This study revealed a wide distribution and the prevalence of A. cantonensis in host animals and populations in Shenzhen, therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the current monitoring of the disease to prevent a potential outbreak.