Covering sickness

[5] Dourine has no known vectors or fomites existing in the natural world, being known only as a sexually transmitted disease of members of the equine family, including donkeys, mules, and horses.

[2] In a laboratory setting, Trypanosoma equiperdum has been manipulated to adapt to and proliferate in other species, such as dogs, rabbits, mice and rats, but this has never been observed to occur naturally.

As normal for its genus, the parasite efficiently evades the host animal's immune system through the use of variable surface glycoproteins or VSGs.

[6] Dourine is spread venereally,[7] and causes disc-shaped[8] lesions of the reproductive organs, nervous system and skin,[7] acute inflammation and edema of the genitals, followed by hindlimb paralysis, paraplegia and death in more than fifty percent of cases.

[5] Dourine is considered an endemic problem in developing countries, where over sixty percent of equines in the world are located.