Diagnostic testing in small ruminant medicine

Abstract

Diagnostic testing can be a challenging, although very rewarding component of veterinary medicine, which, if carried out with a systematic approach and taking into consideration both history taking/data collection and clinical examination, can enhance the clinician's ability to confidently reach a diagnosis, apply the appropriate changes and/or control measures and, in the end, provide cost-effective benefits to the overall health and management of small ruminants. Many diagnostics tests are available for small ruminants, and the difficulty is to know which are the most appropriate for the disease/condition in questions, taking into consideration economic factors, the performance of the test(s) and the sampling methodology. Finally, new technologies have arisen in the last few years, which will be of particular interest to overcome some of the challenges in small ruminant diagnostics.