@article{oai:u-ryukyu.repo.nii.ac.jp:02016395, author = {Sato, Yoshiya and Otsuru, Masamitsu and Asato, Ryuji and Yamashita, Takao}, issue = {1}, journal = {琉球大学保健学医学雑誌=Ryukyu University Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine}, note = {Angiostrongylus cantonensis, primarilly a parasite of rodents, has attracted notice as an important agent of eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis on many Pacific islands and in Southeast Asia. It is generally speculated in the pacific and Asian tropical and subtropical zones that the parasite has extended its geographic range to adjacent regions by introduction of the infected intermediate hosts, mainly Achatina fulica, or by the stowaway rats. The Southwest Islands are in an unique position in Japan consisting of many small islands, so-called the Ryukyu and Amami Islands, which are located in subtropical zone drawing an arc from the northeast to the southwest along the east coast of the Asian Continent and are separated only by a narrow strait northwestward from Taiwan (Fig. 1). A. fulica a most important intermediate host, is belived to be introduced from Taiwan and/or the South Pacific Islands in relatively recent years, and now the snails are distributed widely on the Islands. The adult parasites were first recovered from a wild rat in 1964 and the larval stages were from A. fulica, in next 1965. Successively, human cases suspected of angiostrongyliasis were reported in 1970 and until now, 16 cases have been known from the Islands. Several surveys on the distribution and incidence of the parasite have been done by many workers but the data available on the incidence and distributional pattern of the parasite are still insufficient. The authors have conducted an epidemiological survey on animal infections and human angiostrongyliasis since 1972 and this paper deals with these results obtained on 13 islands of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Prefecture) and 2 0f the neighboring Amami Islands (Kogoshima Prefecture)., 論文}, pages = {15--26}, title = {[原著]An epidemiological survey on Angiostrongylus cantonensis and angiostrongyliasis in the Southwest Islands, Japan.}, volume = {4} }