Diagnostics in the cattle practice
The internationally recognized experts worked out the challenges and differences for clinical and laboratory diagnostic examinations. The clinical examination is of great importance. With the evaluation of the findings, it is the basic building block for the veterinary work. The clinical examination of the individual animal still has an important position, as conclusions can be drawn from this, supplemented with regular monitoring of important parameters, also for the herd. Herd care and individual animal diagnostics and therapy are closely interlinked.
New laboratory diagnostic methods have significantly improved the precision and sensitivity of diagnostics. Nevertheless, a laboratory result can neither replace the clinical examination with the patient nor make a clinical diagnosis on its own. It is helpful for the practicing veterinarian to contact the testing laboratory personally before taking a sample. Together, a tailor-made laboratory package can be put together for the suspected differential diagnosis(s). Before deciding on a therapy, the laboratory result and the environment from which the samples come should be critically examined in order to avoid misinterpretations. Increasingly used point-of-care analytics can serve as a first, quick orientation aid on the farm.
It was shown that in the past few decades, infection diagnostics in cattle practice have been very much dominated by the fight against notifiable animal diseases. The focus was on antibody detection and intradermal tests, for example in tuberculosis. The requirements have changed in the meantime. Modern infection diagnostics bring more accurate results, but also require more complex data management. It even brings previously unknown pathogens to light. New parameters, such as inflammatory markers, are becoming increasingly important in chronic infections. Communication between the laboratory, veterinarian and farmer is becoming more intensive.
Using practical examples, the question of the representativeness of operational diagnostics was explained and attention was drawn to the dilemma of the so-called diagnostics cascade. Even with each correctly executed individual step, the smallest inaccuracies add up and reduce the probability of detection. The interplay of the various elements (from the clinical examination to the taking of the sample to the dissection) was shown as an example for the diagnosis of lung diseases. In the field of mastitis diagnostics, too, the diagnostic possibilities have expanded significantly in recent years. The correct diagnostic procedure ensures that the respective question can be answered.
Among the diseases of the musculoskeletal system in adult cattle, hoof diseases rank first with 90 percent. Essential components of the diagnostics here are the clinical examination, supported by imaging and digital methods as well as bacteriological diagnostics. The range of diagnostic methods used in fertility management is enormous. Due to the economic, therapeutic and ethical consequences, the methods used should therefore be critically questioned. New possibilities through intensive monitoring, e.g. with sensors, require the expertise of the veterinarian to interpret the data obtained in a meaningful way for the decision about the appropriate treatment. Increased efforts to standardize and validate the digital means were called for.
The farmer, as a close observer of his animals, still has a decisive role to play in early detection, despite increased monitoring with digital recording of a large number of parameters.
The detailed abstracts of the AfT symposium are published at www.aft-online.net
