As for many neglected diseases, of data coming from surveillance are lacking, so it’s not possible to define a clear picture of the presence of non tse tse transmitted animal trypanosomosis such as dourine and surra in affected countries. As a first step, information collected should be used to evaluate the impact on livestock and horse population and, subsequently, to design eradication or control strategies. Considering the difficulty of the diagnosis of dourine and surra, a "case definition" where criteria for identifying a case of both disease are unequivocally listed, is basilar to build up an effective surveillance system. Generally, the confirmation of suspected case is problematic, due to the non-constant presence of clinical signs and lesions, the existence of forms with few or no symptoms, the low number of parasites normally present in infected tissues and the mild, short-lasting parasitemia in dourine affected animals. Mainly for these reasons, examples in literature of lists of clearly defined criteria (laboratory, epidemiological and clinical) for a comprehensive case definition of dourine and surra are scarce. To fill this gap, investigation on possible tools to find a consensus on "case definition" are carried out.

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