Module 1

Introduction to
Ruminant Medicine
Lecture By
LGM Ramirez, DVM, MS
 The Ruminant Animal

The Clinician

The Environment

The Disease Agent

Topics Diagnostic Procedures

Therapeutic and Control

Procedures

Main Presenting
Syndromes
Learning Outcomes
• To develop an in-depth understanding of ruminant medicine
• To describe the role of the clinician, the environment, and the disease
agent in establishing diseases, as well as management of such diseases or
problems affecting ruminants
• To diagnose the common problems of the ruminants with the use of
applicable diagnostic approaches;
• To create appropriate preventive and control measures for identified
problems in ruminants.
• To describe the main presenting syndromes of diseases and disorders
common to ruminants

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RUMINANT MEDICINE
AN INTRODUCTION

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RUMINANT MEDICINE

• Medicine
• the practice of veterinary medicine
consists of major facets:
• the making of a diagnosis
• the provision of treatment and
• control measures
 3 Steps in the Diagnosis
Ano kayang
sakit ng kambing? 1. HISTORY TAKING

2. EXAMINATION OF THE
ENVIRONMENT

3. EXAMINATION
OF THE PATIENT
(Physical and Laboratory)
Factors Affecting Diagnosis and
Therapy
▪ Animal
▪ Clinician
▪ Environment
▪ Disease agent
▪ Diagnostic tools
▪ Treatment tools
 Ruminant Medicine - Introduction
• FOOD ANIMAL PRACTICE vs. COMPANION ANIMAL PRACTICE

• FOOD ANIMAL PRACTITIONER- a veterinary practitioner that provide

services to animals that produce meat, milk and fiber

• FOOD ANIMAL PRACTICE

• Objective: The continuous provision of services for efficiency of livestock
production
• efficient livestock management
• cost effective
Ruminant Medicine - Introduction

• COMPANION ANIMAL PRACTICE

• Objective: The restoration of clinically ill animal to
its normal state
• canine, feline
• Exotics
• equine
Ruminant Medicine - Introduction

small animal clinic • Large Animal clinic

- High operation cost
- Limited economic returns
vs.
• Mixed practice
- both for large and small animals

large animal clinic

The
Ruminant
Animal

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The Ruminants
• The word "ruminant" comes from the Latin ruminare,
which means "to chew over again".
• hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals
able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food
by fermentation (microbial actions)
• Foregut fermentation, which typically requires the
fermented ingesta (known as cud) to be
regurgitated and chewed again
• Rumination - rechewing the cud to further break
down plant matter and stimulate digestion
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Importance of Ruminants
• Has a critical role in sustainable agricultural
systems
• As essential components in food production
systems
• Provide a source of food for humans (food-
producing animals)
• As laboratory animals in the conduct of [Link]

agricultural research and teaching

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Ruminants Health and Economics
• Outbreak of diseases ➔ affects livestock
production ➔ low production and little
profit
• Animal diseases in livestock are mostly
multifaceted
• Affects from livestock owner to livestock
product consumer

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Ruminants Health and Economics

• decreased production
• increase cost of treatment
Economic •
•
market disturbances
a ban on the transportation of livestock
Impact products
• limited tourism
• prevention and control expense

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Objectives of Food-Producing Animal
Practice

1. The Efficiency of Livestock Production

2. Animal Welfare
3. Zoonoses and Food Safety

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The Efficiency of Livestock Production

1. Providing the most economical method of diagnosis and

treatment.
2. Monitoring animal health and production of the herd.
3. Recommending specific disease control and prevention
programs.
4. Organizing planned herd and flock health programs.
5. Advising on nutrition, breeding, and general management
practices.
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Animal Welfare
• Encouraging
livestock producers
to maintain
standards of animal
welfare that comply
with the views of the
community

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 The animal is healthy,
free of injury and
procedure.

The animal is living as The animal feels well-

naturally as possible absence of aversive
and can carry out states (e.g. fear) and
behaviors. It is highly presence of positive
motivated to perform. states (e.g. pleasure).

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•Biological Functioning
• Proper biological functioning involves an animal being in
good health, free of injury and maintaining desired levels of
growth, productivity and reproduction
• Ensure proper biological functioning by
• monitoring animals regularly for signs of disease and injury,
• adhering to a herd/flock health program outlined by a
veterinarian,
• identifying and correcting issues in the animals’ housing
environment
• maintaining the highest possible animal husbandry standards in
line with their research objectives.
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•Natural Living
• recognize the importance of providing farm animals with
an environment that provides opportunity for expression
of natural behaviors that are most likely to benefit the
animal
• Although dependent on species, age, sex, housing and
scientific use, promoting aspects of natural living may
include
• more natural eating regimes (e.g., providing sheep
grazing forages as opposed to concentrated pellets),
• opportunity for outdoor exercise (e.g., providing
pasture access)

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Improving Farm Animal Environments
• Provision of
1. Appropriate hygiene level
2. Appropriate grouping (size and animal compatibility)
3. Comfortable lying and walking surfaces
4. Opportunity for social contact
5. Opportunity to express normal behaviors
6. Means to minimize stress during weaning
7. Minimized periods of isolation and restraint
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•Affective State
• The way an animal perceives its own state impacts its welfare
• When an animal experiences negative states (e.g., pain and fear), its welfare is
compromised
• However, an absence of negative states should be combined with the
presence of positive states in order to achieve and maintain good welfare
• Promote positive states by
• providing resources to the animals that provide benefit (e.g., scratching
devices to cattle)
• providing opportunity for performance of behaviors the animals are
motivated to perform (e.g., group housing calves to accommodate
socialization and play)

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Zoonosis and Food Safety
• Promoting
management
practices that
ensure meat and
milk is free of
biological and
chemical agents
capable of causing
disease in humans.

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The Ruminant Animal
• DESCRIPTION
• species, breed, type, age, sex, stage of lactation, stage of pregnancy
• NORMAL ANATOMY
• appearance, conformation, skin, color and texture, absence of
lesions and abnormalities
• NORMAL PHYSIOLOGY
• gait, behavior, reproduction, production,
• heart/pulse rate, respiratory rate,
• temperature, ruminant function, response to environment
Animal Factors Contributing to the
Development of a Disease

Age Young animals are more susceptible to parasitism and

infections
Sex Females are prone to reproductive
problems and mastitis
Breed Purebreds are prone to mineral deficiency
Resistance Newborn unable to suck colostrum are more prone to
diseases
The
Clinician

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THE CLINICIAN
• Academic courses taken • Clinician characteristics
• Anatomy, Physiology, • Personality traits
Zootechnics, • interest in animals
• microbiology, Pharmacology, • interest in medicine
Pathology, • restraint skills
• Public Health, Medicine, • clinical eye
Surgery
The Clinician
•Clinical attitude
✓Inquisitive, questioning, curious and observant
✓Knows/understands that disease is simply a deviation
from normality
✓Clinician must learn what is normal in many different
circumstances- breed, age, nutrition, stage of lactation or
pregnancy, management and environmental conditions
The Clinician

•Knows that…
• Environment can only be appreciated if he/she
considers the animal point of view
• Examination of individual as well as herd is
important
• Examination of the owner and staff is also
important
Purpose of clinician/veterinarians
• the provision of emergency veterinary service to the owners of
herds or flocks in which a single animal was affected by one of the
common diseases
• astute diagnostician and a skillful user
of the physical diagnostic skills of visual
observation, auscultation, palpation, percussion, succussion, ballottement,
and olfactory perception.
• competent field pathologist
• planned animal health and production management using the whole-
farm approach
• Clinicians must experience a critical number of clinical cases in order
to maintain credibility as a veterinary scholar
The clinician should know the…
• NORMAL VALUES
• BLOOD COMPONENTS
• Blood cells (RBC,WBC, Hemoglobin, platelet, PCV)
• Serum enzyme, Mineral and other components
• URINE CHARACTERISTICS
• pH, Color, Sediments
• SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS
• morphology
• motility
• abnormalities
• number
Important diagnostic principles
▪ Be systematic
▪ Adopt a routine that is found suitable and stick to it
▪ Take nothing on trust
▪ Apply continual critical assessment to oneself and monitor
one’s attitudes and techniques
▪ Consider all the time
▪ Is there a problem
▪ If so, then define it
▪ Having defined it, what is best done about it?
The
Environment
The Environment
• Livestock cannot be separated from their environment and
should never be considered in isolation from that environment.
• Periodic environmental assessments are necessary to determine
if the system is making the best use of resources is an
ecologically friendly manner while satisfying the needs of the
farming family and general society

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 The potential options
arising from ignoring
environmental factors
or from performing
an holistic
environmental
assessment.

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• The Health Status of the animal is determined by 3 Factors:

• Non – Infectious Environment

• Infectious Environment
• Animal

• All these are usually controlled by the farm manager and

the caretaker/s.

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• Feed
• Drinking Water
• Air Composition
• Toxic Substances
• Physical Environment
1. Feed
• should be balanced according to the requirements of the animals.
• Non-balanced feed, deficiencies, excess of (toxic) components, molded feed,
sudden feed changes, malnutrition, and too large quantity at time may also
lead to health problems.
2. Drinking Water
• quantity depends on the age, body
weight, breed and environmental
temperature.
• The quality of the drinking water is also
of importance.
• There should be no microorganisms,
toxins and other chemicals present in
the drinking water.
3. Air Composition

• Dust particles
• Ammonia concentration
• Humidity
• Environmental Temperatures
• Air velocity
• Toxic gases
4. Toxic Substances/Toxins
• Heavy metals
• such as zinc, lead, mercury, arsenic,
cadmium are toxic to animals.
• Insecticides, rodenticides and
herbicides
• Drugs
• overdosing and prolonged use of drugs
may cause toxicity.
• Toxins from molds like aflatoxins
cause cell damage of the intestinal
wall and liver.
5. Physical Environment
• Due to trauma from:
• Animals
• Ex. Fighting, cannibalism
• Persons
• Ex. Fractures or discomfort when handling animals
• Transportation
• Ex. bruises, skin abrasions and wounds may cause
hemorrhages
5. Physical Environment
• Due to trauma from:
• Materials
• Ex. Sharp objects used for herd/flock
program that may cause wound and
cuts
• Housing equipment
• Ex. automatic feeders, floor, etc.
• Litter
• Ex. wet, soiled litter will stick to the
skin and lead to blisters of the breast,
crusts and pustules in high level of
ammonia in the farm.
The Infectious Environment
• involvement of microorganisms as the main cause of the
disease or problem
• the common source of this cause are the following:
• Viruses
• Bacteria
• Yeast
• Fungi/Molds
• Protozoa
• Parasites
Animal Response to Stimuli
Received from the Environment

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Examination of the Herd
• Herd examinations are conducted because there is an outbreak of
disease or a problem of production inefficiency due to subclinical
disease
• The purpose of a herd examination
• Define the exact nature of the problem
• Identify those dysfunctions within the herd environment associated with
their occurrence
• Ultimate Goal
• Establish strategies for the treatment, correction, and control of the
disease problem at the herd level
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Methods for Examination of the Herd
1. Initial definition of the problem to be examined
2. Clinical examination of individual animals in the herd
3. Analysis of records of performance and disease
4. Examinations of the environment of the herd
5. Laboratory examination of animals; nutritional and environmental
sampling
6. Necropsy examinations of dead or sacrificed animals
7. Descriptive and analytical epidemiological examinations.

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Note!!!
• The diagnosis, treatment, and control of
diseases in food-producing animals are
heavily dependent on
• The results of the clinical examination of
animals on the farm
• The careful examination of the
environment and management techniques
The Clinical Examination

•3 parts
• The animal
• The history
• The environment
*Inadequate examination of any of
these may lead to an error

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History Taking Method
• History taking is often the most important of the 3 aspects
of a clinical examination
• Reasons:
• Animals are unable to describe their clinical symptoms
• They vary widely in their reaction to handling and examination
• A wide range of normality must be permitted in the criteria used in
physical examination
• History suggest both diagnostic possibilities and probabilities
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History Taking Method
• The owner or attendant must be handled with diplomacy and
tact
• The use of nontechnical terms is essential to avoid confusion due
to technical expression and may cause them to be reluctant in
expressing themselves
• It is essential that veterinarian assess the accuracy of the history
by careful examination

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Consideration in the History Taking
• Outline for conducting History Taking
i. Patient Data
ii. Disease History*
iii. Management History

*Note:
• In general it is best to take the disease history first since the effect is
good for the owner appreciating the facts about his/her animal’s illness

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History Taking – Patient Data
• The relevant data include:
i. Owner's name and initials
ii. Postal address and telephone number
iii. Species, type, breed (or estimate of parentage in a crossbred)
iv. Sex, age, name or number, body weight
v. A description, including color markings, polledness and other
identifying marks, of the patient.

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History Taking – Disease History
• In Large Animal work – all disease states
should be considered as herd problems
until proved to be otherwise
• It is often rewarding to examine the
remainder of a group and find animals
that are in the early stages of the
disease.

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History Taking – Disease History
• Present Disease • Previous Exposure
• Morbidity, Case Fatality, and • Transit
Population Mortality Rates • Culling Rate
• Prior Treatment • Previous Disease
• Prophylactic and Control
Measures

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History Taking – Disease History
• Present Disease
• Attempts should be made to elicit the details of the clinical abnormalities observed by
the owner in the sequence in which they occurred.
• If more than one animal is affected, a typical case should be chosen and the variations
in history in other cases should then be noted.
• If a number of animals are affected, information may be available from clinical
pathological examinations carried out on living animals or necropsy examinations on
fatal cases.
• Prior surgical or medical procedures such as castration, docking, shearing, or
vaccination may be important factors in the production of disease.

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History taking – Disease History
• Morbidity, Case Fatality, and Population Mortality Rates
• morbidity rate - expressed as the percentage of animals that are clinically affected
compared with the total number of animals exposed to the same risks
• case fatality rate - the percentage of affected animals that die
• mortality rate - the percentage of all exposed animals that die
➢The estimates may be important in diagnosis because of the wide variations that
occur in different diseases
➢Take note also the proportion of animals at risk that are clinically normal but
show abnormality on the basis of laboratory or other tests
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History taking – Disease History
• Prior Treatment
• Exact details of the preparations used and doses
given may be of value in eliminating some diagnostic
possibilities.
• Important when assessing the probable efficiency of
the treatment and the significance of clinical
pathological tests, and in prescribing additional
treatment.
• Clinical improvement following treatment may
support a tentative diagnosis
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History taking – Disease History
• Prophylactic and Control Measures
• It should be ascertained whether preventive or
control procedures have already been attempted.
• clinical pathological tests, the introduction of artificial
insemination to control venereal disease, vaccination, or
changes in nutrition, management or hygiene
• When written reports are available they are more
reliable than the memory of the owner.

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History taking – Disease History
• Previous Exposure
• The history of the group relative to additions is of particular importance
• Is the affected animal an established member of the group, or has it been
introduced, and if so how long ago?
• If the affected animal has been in the group for some time, have there been recent
additions?
• Is the herd a 'closed herd' or are animals introduced at frequent intervals?

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History taking – Disease History
• Transit
• The possibility of infection during transit is always a
potential risk
• Transient introductions are often overlooked as
possible vectors of disease.
• Other sources of infection are wild fauna that graze
over the same area as domestic livestock and
inanimate objects such as human footwear, car tires
and feeding utensils.

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History taking – Disease History
• Culling Rate
• There may be considerable significance in the reasons
for culling, and the number of animals disposed of for
health reasons
• Failure to grow well, poor productivity and short
productive life will suggest the possible occurrence of a
number of chronic diseases, including some associated
with infectious agents, by nutritional deficiencies or by
poisons.

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History taking – Disease History
• Importance of Culling
• Maintain flock/herd size
• More productive and easier to manage
• Increase usefulness of animals
• Helps maintain good breeding bands
• Efficient grazing ability

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History taking – Disease History
• Previous Disease
• If there is a history of previous illness, inquiries
should be made on the usual lines:
• clinical observations
• necropsy findings
• morbidity
• case fatality rates
• the treatments and control measures used
• the results obtained from clinical examination

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Management History of the Animal
• Consideration
1. Nutrition
2. Breeding policy and practice
3. Housing
4. Transport
5. General handling

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Management History of the Animal
• Nutrition
• The major objective in the examination of the
nutritional history is to determine how the
quantity and quality of the diet which the
animals have been receiving compares with
the nutrient requirements that have been
recommended for a similar class of animal.
• Livestock at pasture - receive a diet that is less controlled
• Hand-fed/ stall-fed animals - frequently exposed to
dietary mistakes

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 Management History of the Animal
• Breeding policy and practice
• Reproductive management and performance
• the breeding and parturition history may suggest or eliminate
some diagnostic possibilities
• Breeding history – important in inherited diseases
• Reproductive history - involves comparing past and present
reproductive performance with certain optimum objectives (i.e.
mean length of the interval between parturition and conception, the mean
number of services per conception and the percentage of young animals weaned
relative to the number of females that were originally exposed for breeding are
general measures of reproductive performance and efficiency.

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Management History of the Animal
• Climate
• Many diseases are influenced by climate.
• Foot rot in cattle and sheep reaches its peak incidence in warm, wet summers
and is relatively rare in dry seasons;
• Diseases spread by insects are encouraged when climatic conditions favor the
propagation of the vector.
• Cool, wet seasons favor the development of hypomagnesemia in pastured cattle.
• Anhidrosis in horses is specifically a disease of hot, humid countries.
• The direction of prevailing winds is of importance in many disease outbreaks

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Management History of the Animal
• General Handling/Management
• Hygiene, particularly in milking parlors and in parturition and rearing
stalls;
• Adequacy of housing in terms of space, ventilation, draining, situation,
and suitability of troughs
• Opportunity for exercise
• Proper management of milking machines to avoid udder injury.
• The class of livestock under consideration

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 Examination of the Patient
• A complete clinical examination of an animal
patient includes physical examinations and
laboratory examinations
• The examination of a patient consists of
• a general inspection done from a distance (the
distant examination, and the particular distant
examination of body regions); and
• by a close physical examination of all body regions
and systems
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 Examination of the Patient
• General Inspection (Distant Examination)
• Behavior and General Appearance (behavior and excitation states)
• Voice (bellowing and yawning)
• Eating (abnormalities in rumination and eructation)
• Defecation (constipation and rectal paralysis or stenosis)
• Urination (difficulty/painful, frequency, incontinence)
• Posture (painful extremities, lameness, arching of the back, gait)
• Body Condition
• Body Conformation
• Skin
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Body Condition Score- Beef Cattle

Body Condition Scores - BIF Guidelines Wiki ([Link])

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 Body Condition Scores - BIF Guidelines Wiki ([Link])

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Homework and Reading Assignment
• Research on the BCS of SHEEP, GOAT, DAIRY CATTLE
• Research on the Normal Body Conformation of small and large
ruminants
• Read on the inspection of body regions on distant examination

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Examination of the Patient
• General
Inspection
(Close Physical
Examination)

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Examination of the Patient
• Techniques used during physical examination
• Palpation (touching)
• Auscultation (listening)
• Percussion (tapping)
• Manipulation (moving)
• Ballottement (rebound)
• Succussion (shaking)
• Visual Inspection
• Olfactory Inspection
module 1 - intro to ruminant production 79
Diagnostic
Procedures
Review!!! “DISEASE VS DISORDER”
•DISEASE
• an interruption, cessation or disorder of
body functions, systems or organs
manifested by signs and symptoms with
recognized etiologic agents
• e.g. bacterial diseases, viral dss, protozoan
dss, fungal dss and parasitic dss
Review!!! “DISEASE VS DISORDER”
•DISORDER
• a disturbance of function,
structure or both, resulting from
a genetic or embryonic failure or
from exogenous factors such as
poison, trauma, etc.
• e.g. nutritional , reproductive
disorders Bovine Brachyspina Syndrome
Making a Diagnosis
• A diagnosis is the identification of the disease affecting the
patient
• 3 parts
1. The specific cause
2. The abnormality of structure or function produced by the causative
agent, and which is inimical to normal body processes
3. The clinical manifestation of that abnormality produced by the
causative agent.
Making a Diagnosis
• 5 distinctly recognizable methods
1. The Syndrome of Pattern recognition
2. Hypothetico-deductive Reasoning
3. The Arborization or Algorithm Method
4. The Key Abnormality Method
5. The Database Method
• General rule!
• “the experienced clinician uses more of the simpler strategies,
the novice clinician more of the complex ones”
The Syndrome of Pattern Recognition
• This recognition is based on the comparison of the subject case
from previous cases in the clinician’s memory
• The one is recognized as a replica of the other
• There is no need to seek advice and the definitive dx is made
there and then
• In the hands of the wise and experienced clinician, the method is
quick and accurate
• E.g. mastitis

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The Syndrome of Pattern Recognition
Hypothetico-deductive Reasoning
• generating multiple plausible hypotheses (dx possibilities) from initial
cues
• the clinician then begins to ask questions and conduct clinical
examinations which test the hypotheses
• the questions and examinations may be directed at supporting the
tentative dx (the CONFIRM EXCLUDE TECHNIQUE) but may lead to
addition of more hypotheses and deletion of some others
Hypothetico-deductive Reasoning
• one of the important characteristics of this strategy is the
independence on the selection of a critical key or cue on which
to base the original hypotheses
• This is done by instinctively by experienced clinician on the basis
of prior experience in similar situations
• e.g. bloat

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Hypothetico-deductive Reasoning
The Arborization or Algorithm Method

• approaches a listed series of diagnoses and examines each one in

turn with in supporting or disproving questions; if they pass the
proving test, they stay in, if they fail they are deleted
• provided that the list of all possible dx is complete and is frequently
updated as new diagnosis become available, and just as importantly,
as new ways of supporting or discontinuing each hypothesis are
added as soon as they are published, the method works well
The Arborization or Algorithm Method

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The Arborization or Algorithm Method
The Key Abnormality Method
• a time-consuming method and requires that clinicians rely on
their own knowledge of normal structure or function to select
the key abnormality or clinical cue
• As a guiding principle, all functions of the organ under
examination should be observed and any abnormalities noted.
The Key Abnormality Method
• Composed of 5 steps
1. Determination of the abnormality of function present
2. Determination of the system or body as a whole or organ affected
3. Determination of the location of the lesion within the system or organ
affected
4. Determination of the type of lesion
5. Determination of the specific cause of the lesion
• Accuracy in diagnosis means increased efficiency - the final criterion
of veterinary practice.
 The Key
Abnormality
Method
The Database Method
• Also called the weed or problem-oriented method
• Basis is to conduct a complete clinical and clinico-pathological examination
of the patient in order to acquire a comprehensive patient database
• The problem (key signs) in this database are then matched with the
diagnostic database in which collections of signs or syndromes are labeled
with diagnosis, to select the best fit with the patient’s data
• This is an excellent system for the teaching of clinical veterinary medicine
The Database Method
• An expanded version of the hypothetico-deductive the hypotheses are
made sequentially or further information becomes available
• In the database method, all the hypotheses are pursued in parallel
because all the possible data have been collected into the patient’s
database
• e.g. fatty infiltration of the liver
• The source of error in the method is the possibility of undue importance
being attached to a chance abnormality
The Database Method
• This method uses the problem-oriented veterinary
medical record system
• Composed of 4 components
• Database
• Problem list
• Initial plans
• Progress notes
• SOAP (Subjective info, Objective data, Assessment of problems, Plans
*not suitable for use in animal medicine
Diagnostic Procedure
• An examination to identify an individual’s specific areas of weakness and
strength in order to determine a condition, disease or illness.
• Clinical Diagnosis
• A diagnosis made on the basis of medical signs and reported symptoms, rather
that diagnostic tests
• Laboratory Diagnosis
• A medical procedure that involves testing a sample of blood, urine, or other
substance from the body. Laboratory tests can help determine a diagnosis, plan
treatment, check to see if treatment is working, or monitor the disease over time.
Interpretation of Laboratory Data
• Reasons
• To confirm the presence or cause of a disease
• To assess the severity of a disease
• To predict the clinical course of a disease or to determine a prognosis
• To estimate the likely response to therapy
• To determine the response to therapy or monitor progression of a
disease
• To satisfy regulatory requirements
• To determine the disease or immune status of an animal, herd or flock.
Importance of Diagnostic Tests
• Early and accurate diagnosis of infectious disease is critically
important because:
1. Diagnosis can improve the effectiveness of treatments and avoid
long-term complications for the infected patient.
2. Undiagnosed patients can unknowingly transmit the disease to
others. Early diagnosis can help to prevent or stop an outbreak.
3. Widespread overuse and misuse of antibiotics contribute to
antibiotic resistance. Diagnostic tests can determine when
antibiotics are an appropriate treatment—and when they are not.
Diagnostic Characteristics
• Diagnostic tests
• used to confirm or rule out conditions and diseases
• Note:
• A test should never be performed unless one can anticipate all the likely
results and provide a meaningful interpretation for each.
Diagnostic Characteristics
• Properties of Diagnostic Tests
1. The test should be developed and validated in the population of interest
2. Know the Accuracy of the test
3. Know the Specificity of the test
4. Know the Sensitivity of the test
5. Know the pre-test likelihood of the disease in the population
6. Know the likelihood ratios of the various test results for the population of animals
being tested
7. Know the reliability of the laboratory performing the test
8. The meaning of an abnormal test result should be clear
9. The test should allow you to rule in or rule out one of the differential diagnoses
10. All test results should be interpretable.
 Methods of Determining Sensitivity, Specificity,
Likelihood ration for positive and negative tests, positive
predictive value and negative predictive value

module 1 - intro to ruminant production 104

Diagnostic
Techniques
Examination of
the herd
Reading Assignments
• Read the examination of the Herds (Radostits pp 31-37)
• Read the chapter of Clinical Examination and making a
Diagnosis (Radostits pp 3-37)
End of Slide

QUESTIONS….
EVERYTHING

SHOULD BE

IN BALANCE...
References
• Introductory Chapter: Ruminants—The Husbandry, Economic, and Health Aspects | IntechOpen
• Biology and Diseases of Ruminants (Sheep, Goats, and Cattle) - PMC ([Link])
• Ruminant – Wikipedia
• Animals and Environments ([Link])
• History taking of animals | PPT ([Link]) Lecture by Dr. Muhammad Awais
• Vectors and disease spread in humans and animals - The Livestock Project ([Link])
• Genetic Diseases in Cattle | Cornell Applied Dairy Cattle Genetics
• Paradigm shift in the diagnosis of peste des petits ruminants: scoping review | Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica | Full
Text ([Link])

module 1 - intro to ruminant production 110

thank you