Rethinking respiratory health in domestic ruminants: integrating thoracic ultrasonography and precision livestock farming tools to improve diagnosis and long-term outcome assessment.
Bronchopneumonia (BP) poses a significant health threat to dairy ruminants, leading to considerable morbidity and mortality rates among both calves and small ruminants.
This condition results in substantial economic losses for the dairy industry and contributes significantly to the use of antimicrobials in calves, thereby increasing the risk of antimicrobial resistance.
In calves, the accurate antemortem diagnosis of BP presents challenges, as the clinical signs often lack specificity.
Currently, there is no established gold standard for the in vivo diagnosis of active BP; however, thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) has emerged as a practical and reliable tool for evaluating lung health in pre-weaned dairy calves.
Numerous studies have highlighted the effectiveness of TUS in detecting lung lesions, reporting variable yet generally favorable sensitivity and specificity values.
Despite this, research has primarily centered on individual diagnoses in dairy calves. Although some studies have aimed at assessing the prevalence of BP at the herd level, TUS is not routinely used as a field diagnostic tool for evaluating calf lung health.
To date, no studies have established standardized protocols for the practical and consistent application of TUS in calf-rearing facilities.
Considering this, the primary objective of this PhD project is to develop and validate a comprehensive diagnostic and monitoring protocol for BP in young ruminants, integrating traditional diagnostic methods with precision livestock farming technologies.
The specific objectives of the project include:
- Monitoring the healing process of lung lesions after antimicrobial treatment using systematic TUS in dairy calves as a diagnostic tool.
- Investigating the use of precision livestock farming tools, such as accelerometers, to identify sickness behaviors linked to TUS-detected lung lesions and to aid in the development and validation of a predictive algorithm for early disease detection in dairy calves.
- Extending TUS applications to small ruminants by creating a standardized scanning protocol.
- Assessing the long-term impact of early-life BP on first-lactation performance in dairy cows in Northern Italy.
Master’s degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Milan – February 2025 Master thesis on the Effects of hazelnut skin extract supplementation in milk replacer on neonatal diarrhea incidence and growth rate in newborn dairy heifers: a randomized clinical trial with longitudinal follow-up in a commercial dairy farm.
Undergraduate and postgraduate fellowship period at the Ruminant and Swine Clinic of the University of Milan (UNIMI).
Deep interest in bovine internal medicine, animal welfare and public health.
Publications: Orcid
Supervisor Dr. Antonio Boccardo
Co-supervisor Prof. Davide Pravettoni
