a disease most commonly caused by infection by the rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the larvae of which, ingested with infected slugs or land snails (or some unidentified transport host), migrate from intestine to the meninges of the brain where the disease is produced; it is usually mild, of short duration, and characterized by fever, eosinophilia, and white blood cells (rarely nematode larvae) in the spinal fluid. Manifestations are both meningeal and indicative of brain disfuction.