Angiostrongylus cantonensis from Australia, Hawaii, French Polynesia and Canary Islands

Rats (Rattus spp.) invaded most of the world as stowaways while some carried the rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the cause of eosinophilic meningoencephalitis in humans and other warm-blooded animals. A high genetic diversity of A. cantonensis based on short mitochondrial DNA regions is reported from South East Asia. The identity of the invasive A. cantonensis is known for minority of countries. The affordability of next generation sequencing for genetic characterisation of A. cantonensis should enables new insight into the A. cantonensis invasion and their parasite identification in experimental studies.