Salir
Animal pathology and animal welfare
A15_23R

Our group’s main objective is to promote the health of small ruminants destined for slaughter in all phases of their lives, as a means of improving animal welfare and production yield, thereby contributing toward sustainability of economic and social development in rural areas of the Autonomous Community of Aragon. Our recent focus is on the promotion of animal health within the perspective of the global “One Health” approach. This, in turn, has spread our horizon toward the study of other domestic and wild animals. 

What do we do?

1. Respiratory pathology of small ruminants​

  • Immune response to retrovirus-associated contagious respiratory neoplasms in small ruminants​
  • The development of vaccines to combat ovine viral illnesses caused by lentiviruses. Study of the interaction between vaccine granulomas and lentiviruses​

2. Animal welfare in small ruminants ​

  • Study of the use of a topical anesthetic in the treatment of ecthyma contagiosum lesions in lambs​
  • Evaluation of the degree of achieved immune response and protection after applying a vaccine against ecthyma contagiosum in lambs ​

3. Emergent diseases: ovine anaplasmosis​

  • Identifying vectors implied in the transmission of ovine anaplasmosis. Evaluating tick control protocols as a means of preventing the disease ​
  • Studying the disease’s prevalence in sheep herds in Aragon​

4. Veterinary clinical pathology​

  • Developing and validating techniques for the diagnosis and detection of diseases ​
  • Establishing reference intervals for laboratory parameters ​

5. Metabolic and endocrine diseases​

  • Effects of obesity and its treatment on canine intestinal microbiota  
Main projects, patents, etc.
  1. “Pain treatments for lambs”. OTRI 2021/0417. Animal Ethics (Queensland Australia) (2021-2023).​
  2. “Functional evaluation of the immune system in lambs during the fattening period. Impact of stress and most common infections”. AGL2015-67690-R. Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad. (2016-2019).​
  3. “Animal welfare and pathology in small ruminants”. Gobierno de Aragón. (2017-2022). ​
  4. “Colostrum: Disease transmission and disease prevention”. A48. Gobierno de Aragón. (2008-2016).
Useful links