Medicine is the science of treating diseases dealing with diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Veterinary Medicine includes combination of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Parasitology, Microbiology and Pharmacology. Branches of Veterinary medicine There are two branches of Veterinary medicine Clinical Veterinary Medicine - (internal medicine, curative medicine). Eg. Cardiologist, gastroenterologist etc Preventive Veterinary Medicine - Maintain health and prevent and control animal diseases. Classification of Disease Hereditary- transmitted to the offspring through mother or father. Eg. haemophilia. Congenital - Disease acquired during intrauterine life Eg. Atresia anai, TB Acquired disease- contracted during the entire life span. Eg. cataract According to specific cause Specific- produced by specific pathogen. Eg. RP, FMD Infectious- Living infecting organism Eg Virus, bacteria, protozoa According to System Involved Localized- confined to a particular spot Eg. Abscess Generalized- all parts of the body Eg. Toxaemia, septicaemia According to changes in the Organ Structural- change in structure Eg. Pericarditis, rickets, osteomalacia Functional- change in function without altering structure Eg. Arrhythmia Stages of infectious disease Incubation period Premonitary symptoms Stages of development Subsidence Covalescence According to clinical manifestation Acute- sudden onset, severe, short course, 3 to 14 days. Eg. RP, Anthrax, FMD Per acute- Duration is shorter than acute with very severe course. Illness lasts for few hr to 48hr. Eg. Peracurte mastitis Sub acute- onset and severity is less than the acute one. 2-4 wks Chronic disease- long run, fatal. Illness over 4 wks. TB According to spread of disease Sporadic- spread in the herd Endemic- disease retained in the herd for a long time in a locality affecting large number of animals Enzootic- among animals in a definite area Epizootic disease- large population Panzootic disease-epidemic disease reaches some unusual size in another country According to source of infection Exogenous- Animal gets infected from other animals, foodstuffs Endogenous- auto-infection activation of microorganism due to disturbance of internal medium Resp. Tract infection. Diagnosis Diagnosis is the art of recognition and determination of the nature of disease Classification of Diagnosis Snap shot diagnosis - declared at very approach, erroneous Direct- observing lesions Tentative- based on subjective changes, laboratory tests Symptomatic- based on pathological changes Differential- comparing Exclusion Confirmatory – clinical, biochemical, pathological and immunological Herd Diagnosis- affected animal shows clear symptoms. Search the environment where the animals are kept in pasture , housing conditions, grazing etc., Post mortem, pathological findings, all supervision of experts from various disciplines. Other terminologies Typical symptom- typical of the disease Syndrome- associated to the disease Lesion- structural changes in an organ Prophylactic measures- prevent the spread of disease thru quarantine, vaccination, disposal, nutrition Prognosis- forecast disease. Favourable, doubtful, poor, grave Relapse- reoccurrence of the disease Why Veterinary clinicians face problems while making a diagnosis Animals cannot express so we have to depend upon our own observations Diagnosis becomes erroneous when we have to depend upon attendants Sometimes animals do not cooperate Different species of animals have different structures and functions Variation in normal physiology (temp, pulse, respire) in different species of animal References Amalendu Chakrabarti, 2008. Text Book of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi Jagdish Prasad and Neeraj, 2004, Principles and practices of Animal Health and Hygiene, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi Content Contributors Saroj Rai, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani, West Bengal Email : drsaroj.rai@gmail.com Rani Alex, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana. Ruma Jas, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Belgachia, Kolkata, WB, India