DIFFERENZE E SIMILITUDINI DELLE DENOMINAZIONI E DEI DESCRITTORI CLINICI DI ALCUNE MALATTIE INFETTIVE IN DIVERSE AREE GEOGRAFICHE, CON PARTICOLARE RIFERIMENTO ALL’ EUROPA ED ALL’AFRICA

The Authors review the names and clinical descriptors of some infectious diseases of animals, including zoonoses, as used in some West European languages (both of Latin and Anglo-German origin) and in different geographical contexts, in order to underline major differences or similarities and changes in their use over the years. Some diseases of animals and humans have maintained almost unchanged their names and the clinical descriptors they had been first identified and described with; on the contrary, other diseases progressively went through a homogenization and rareness process of the respective names and clinical descriptors. Amongst the diseases that have maintained nearly intact the ancient Greek and Latin roots, both in Italian and in other European languages, we can quote: rabies –a zoonoses well known since Biblical times and nowadays still sadly prevalent in most of the World- derives its name from rabies (classical Latin) or rabia (late Latin); interestingly this name has been maintained almost identical in neo-Latin languages as well in some Anglo-Germanic and Ugro-Finnic languages. Also Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia –whose name acts as a perfect clinical descriptor of the disease itself- has maintained the same Latin etymology in Spanish, Portuguese, French, as well as in English language; while “peste bovina” –a disease also known since the old times- has kept the Latin etymology only in Spanish, Portuguese and French, whilst the name of the disease in English, German, and Dutch/Afrikaans correspond to the literal translation of “peste bovina” in the respective languages. To finish with, the Authors point out odd similarities in naming certain diseases in geographical areas and in historical periods far away from each others: for instance, in certain old Italian veterinary books dated end of 19th–beginning of 20th century, Cattle Babesiosis or Piroplasmosis was defined as malaria of cattle, term that is used nowadays by livestock keepers in West Africa (Burkina Faso and Mali) to describe a clinical syndrome attributable to/compatible with Babesiosis.