Dourine

The General Direction for Animal Health and Veterinary Medicines of Italian Ministry of Health ordered in 2012 a surveillance activity for Dourine on the basis of the results and conclusions of last year. The conclusions are the following:

• the surveillance activities did not detect the infection in any stallion for stud;
• the disease was detected in marketed horses, particularly those raised for meat production, or belonging to owners allowing their animals to mate without any authorization and veterinary check;
• serious failures were found in the application of identification and registration rules for equines, which hampered the investigations for identifying epidemiologically related farms and potential sources of infection.

In 2012, the activity control was restricted only to some central and southern Regions: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise, Puglia and Sicilia Regions. The animals included in the serological control were all marketed horses, 30 days before their exit from the farm of origin (excluding animals destined to sporting events, competitions and exhibitions), all equines showing, at the abattoir, clinical signs compatible with dourine and all equines with irregularities in the accompanying documents.

Results of serological controls are reported in the following table.

* Note DGSAFV 2124 - 7th February 2012 (162 KB)