
Advancing Cattle Health: The Role of In Vitro Diagnostics in Buiatrics Medicine

Buiatrics is the branch of veterinary medicine focused on cattle and other ruminants as sheep and goats.
It plays a crucial role in global agriculture, food production, and public health for many aspects as e.g. animal health and welfare, food security and economic impact, not even saying about public health in general.
In this context, accurate diagnostic plays a critical role in managing herd health, improving animal productivity and early diseases detection.
Continuing, in vitro diagnostics (IVD) is a key component of buiatric diagnostics, helping veterinarians and farmers to react quickly and identify diseases in cattle and other large ruminants.
Time is money? Time is health!
Timely prevention of disease spread within herds is crucial to ensure cattle health and optimize farm productivity. Cattle are susceptible to a wide range of infectious diseases (e.g., bovine tuberculosis, mastitis, and brucellosis), metabolic disfunctions and parasitic infections.
Regular diagnostics enables veterinarians to detect the presence of pathogens or metabolic imbalances at its early stages and guide proper treatment strategies. This knowledge allows early intervention, that not only minimizes animal suffering but also prevents significant economic losses due to reduced milk or meat production, reproductive inefficiency, or even herd depopulation. For example, early diagnosis of infectious diseases like bovine respiratory disease (BRD) can help isolate affected animals and implement appropriate treatments, preventing the spread of the disease.

Invaluable role of IVD
In vitro diagnostics involves biological samples testing, such as blood, serum, plasma or urine. Tests are performed outside of the animal’s body (in vitro) and do not involve directly accessing or entering the body in a way that would cause harm or significant discomfort to the animal, therefore those tests are considered non-invasive.
If we compare this to the amount of information that is provided and can be used for treatment purposes, IVD tests become crucial as a diagnostic tool and an aid in prescribing the appropriate treatment protocol.
Single drop of blood and what’s next?
Biochemistry tests – perform on a regular basis or whenever there is a need to assess metabolic parameters, such as liver enzymes, creatinine, or blood urea nitrogen (BUN), providing insights into the animal’s overall health.
Hematology tests - The study of blood and its components — red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin — is essential in detecting and diagnosing various diseases, monitoring health, guiding treatment decisions in cattle and can assist in monitoring the reproductive health of cattle. Moreover hematology can reveal the immune status, helping to guide treatment protocols and vaccination decisions.
Other technologies?
Urinalysis – while is not performed as frequently as blood tests or other routine diagnostics, it but can be very valuable in specific situations. It becomes important in diagnosing certain health conditions, particularly related to: Metabolic Disorders, Infectious Diseases, UTIs, Renal and Liver Function and Nutrition monitoring.
Lateral Flow Assays (LFAs) - Rapid point-of-care tests based on immunochromatography, used for quick on-farm diagnosis of diseases like mastitis.
ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) - often used to diagnose diseases such as Johne’s disease, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), or bovine viral diarrhea (BVD).

Antimicrobial Aspect – global issue of AMR
When it comes to in vitro veterinary diagnostics, growing global concern of combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) cannot be overlooked. According to various studies, about 60-70% of total antibiotics in agriculture are used for food-producing animals, including cattle, pigs, and poultry. In terms of dosage, cattle can consume a larger quantity of antibiotics because of their size and the prevalence of group-level treatments, such as in-feed antibiotics for large herds. Therefore accurate diagnostics are essential for identifying infections and guiding appropriate treatments, which helps to minimize unnecessary or incorrect use of antimicrobials in cattle.
According to One Health Approach both, human and veterinary medicine sectors are working toward reducing antibiotic use through improved diagnostic practices, vaccination, and better herd management, aiming to combat the global issue of AMR.
Contact
PZ Cormay S.A.
Ursynów Business Park
303 Pulawska Street
02-785 Warsaw, Poland