title: Diagnosis of dourine in outbreaks in Italy.
abstract: Dourine is trypanosomosis that affects equids, it's mainly sexually transmitted. The disease was first eradicated in Italy in the 1940s, but there was then a serious epidemic in the mid-70s. After sporadic reports at the end of the 1990s, in May 2011 it was reported once more. Clinical diagnosis of dourine can be complex, as clinical signs and gross lesions are not always present. Direct laboratory diagnosis is also problematic, given the low number of parasites normally present in infected tissues and the mild, short-lasting parasitaemia. This article describes the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data enabling confirmation of the suspicion of dourine in Italy in the 2011 epidemic.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise G. Caporale, Campo Boario, 64100 Teramo, Italy. i.pascucci@izs.it
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pascucci
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Provvido
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cammà
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Francesco
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calistri
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tittarelli
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scacchia
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Caporale
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D004313:Dourine / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D006736:Horses; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary