Angiostrongylus

Angiostrongylus is a genus of parasitic nematodes, commonly known as lungworms, that infest the lungs and air passages of mammals. Members of this genus are significant to both veterinary medicine and human health. For instance, the rat lungworm (A. cantonensis) typically parasitizes rats in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, but it can cause rat lungworm disease in humans, leading to eosinophilic meningitis. Another species, the French heartworm (A. vasorum), affects dogs and other canids, with its life cycle involving slugs and snails as intermediate hosts. Lungworms are distinct from lung flukes, which belong to a different phylum.1