Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium.
Departamento de Biología Celular, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, 1080, Venezuela.
Parasit Vectors. 2019 May 15;12(1):234. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3484-x.
Equine trypanosomosis is a complex of infectious diseases called dourine, nagana and surra. It is caused by several species of the genus Trypanosoma that are transmitted cyclically by tsetse flies, mechanically by other haematophagous flies, or sexually. Trypanosoma congolense (subgenus Nannomonas) and T. vivax (subgenus Dutonella) are genetically and morphologically distinct from T. brucei, T. equiperdum and T. evansi (subgenus Trypanozoon). It remains controversial whether the three latter taxa should be considered distinct species. Recent outbreaks of surra and dourine in Europe illustrate the risk and consequences of importation of equine trypanosomosis with infected animals into non-endemic countries. Knowledge on the epidemiological situation is fragmentary since many endemic countries do not report the diseases to the World Organisation for Animal Health, OIE. Other major obstacles to the control of equine trypanosomosis are the lack of vaccines, the inability of drugs to cure the neurological stage of the disease, the inconsistent case definition and the limitations of current diagnostics. Especially in view of the ever-increasing movement of horses around the globe, there is not only the obvious need for reliable curative and prophylactic drugs but also for accurate diagnostic tests and algorithms. Unfortunately, clinical signs are not pathognomonic, parasitological tests are not sufficiently sensitive, serological tests miss sensitivity or specificity, and molecular tests cannot distinguish the taxa within the Trypanozoon subgenus. To address the limitations of the current diagnostics for equine trypanosomosis, we recommend studies into improved molecular and serological tests with the highest possible sensitivity and specificity. We realise that this is an ambitious goal, but it is dictated by needs at the point of care. However, depending on available treatment options, it may not always be necessary to identify which trypanosome taxon is responsible for a given infection.
马锥虫病是一组传染病，包括媾疫、苏拉病和纳加那病。它由几种锥虫属的物种引起，通过采采蝇周期性传播，通过其他吸血蝇机械传播，或通过性传播。刚果锥虫（Nannomonas 亚属）和布氏锥虫（Dutonella 亚属）在遗传和形态上与布鲁斯锥虫、伊氏锥虫和伊氏锥虫（Trypanozoon 亚属）不同。关于后三个分类群是否应被视为不同的物种，仍存在争议。最近在欧洲暴发的苏拉病和媾疫表明，将感染动物进口到非流行国家存在感染马锥虫病的风险和后果。由于许多流行国家未向世界动物卫生组织（OIE）报告这些疾病，因此对流行病学情况的了解是零碎的。控制马锥虫病的其他主要障碍是缺乏疫苗、药物无法治愈疾病的神经阶段、病例定义不一致以及现有诊断方法的局限性。特别是考虑到马匹在全球范围内的流动不断增加，不仅需要可靠的治疗和预防药物，还需要准确的诊断测试和算法。不幸的是，临床症状没有特征性，寄生虫学检测不够敏感，血清学检测缺乏敏感性或特异性，分子检测无法区分锥虫属亚属中的分类群。为了克服马锥虫病目前诊断方法的局限性，我们建议研究具有最高敏感性和特异性的改进的分子和血清学检测方法。我们意识到这是一个雄心勃勃的目标，但这是在护理点的需求所决定的。然而，根据可用的治疗选择，确定引起特定感染的锥虫分类群可能并非总是必要的。
