Studies on eosinophilic meningitis. 2. Experimental infection of shrimp and crabs with Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Chen), a metastrongylid lungworm of rats, was recovered from the brain of a patient from Hawaii in 1961 (1) and since has become the principal suspect in the search for the etiologic agent of the eosinophilic meningitis seen on Pacific Islands (2-5). Since epidemiologic investigations (1,4,6) suggest that certain food animals may be involved in the transmission of this parasite to man, experiments were undertaken to determine if certain of these animals could serve as hosts for third-stage (infective) larvae of A. cantonensis. This report describes the findings for Macrobrachium lar (Fabricius), a freshwater shrimp, and Ocypode ceratophthalma (Pallas), an amphibious crab. These particular crustaceans were selected for study because of evidence linking them to cases of eosinophilic meningitis in Tahiti and Hawaii, respectively.