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The presence of zoonotic relevant Angiostrongylus cantonensis infections has recently been reported in rat final hosts and gastropod intermediate hosts in Tenerife, Spain. However, data on A. cantonensis, Angiostrongylus vasorum and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus prevalences in endemic gastropods for other islands of the Macaronesian Archipelago are still missing. In order to fill this gap, we conducted an epidemiological study on terrestrial native slug (Plutonia lamarckii) and snail (Cornu aspersum, Theba pisana, Rumina decollata) species in 27 selected locations of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, El Hierro, Lanzarote, La Palma and Fuerteventura. Overall, 131 terrestrial gastropods were collected in winter/spring season 2018/2019 and examined for the presence of metastrongyloid lungworm larvae via artificial digestion. The current data revealed a total prevalence of 4.6% for A. vasorum, 3.8% for A. abstrusus and 0.8% for A. cantonensis. In Tenerife, three lungworm species were detected, thereby re-confirming A. cantonensis endemicity for this island. Prevalences of snails (C. aspersum) originating from El Hierro were 5% for A. abstrusus and 15% for A. vasorum, respectively, with larval burdens up to 290 larvae per specimen. This epidemiological study indicates the presence of human, canine and feline lungworm species in Macaronesia, Spain. The current data—particularly those on anthropozoonotic A. cantonensis—call for a regular large-scale monitoring on intermediate hosts, paratenic hosts and definitive hosts to prevent further spread of lungworm-related diseases in humans and animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presence of marine mammal nematodes in Turkey is poorly known. One bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and four harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded on the Turkish coast were examined at necropsy between 2009 and 2012. Harbour porpoise stranded from Marmara Sea were only infected by three species of lungworms (Metastrongyloidea): Stenurus minor, Halocercus invaginatus and H. taurica. Anisakid, pseudaliid, filarioid and spirurid nematodes were not found in the investigated organs and alimentary canal from harbour porpoises and bottlenose dolphin from Black Sea. The present study represents the first geographic record of H. taurica from Turkish waters. Moreover, S. minor is the first and new host record of harbour porpoise from the coast of Black Sea. Additionally, pathological findings associated with lungworms are also presente [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]