Angiostroneylosis in Cornwall: Clinical presentations of eight cases

Clinical signs in eight dogs with Angiostrongylus vasorum infection included chronic cough, dyspnoea, lumbar pain, hindleg paresis/paralysis, abdominal pain, weakness and collapse; two of the dogs were asymptomatic. Thrombocytopenia was present in two dogs and a mild anaemia in one. Thoracic radiographs showed mild right heart enlargement in two out of three dogs and a pneumothorax in one. At post mortem examination in three dogs, the lungs were swollen with a mottled appearance and there was dilatation of the right ventricle. Adult A vasorum were found in the right heart, the pulmonary artery and its branches. Adult worms were also found in the systemic vasculature in one dog, associated with thromboembolism. Treatment with ivermectin in two dogs and fenbendazole in three dogs resulted in the resolution of clinical signs and no demonstrable larvae in the faeces one to two weeks later.