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. 2021 Oct 5;8(10):219.
doi: 10.3390/vetsci8100219.

Evaluation of Infrared Thermography for the Detection of Footrot and White Line Disease Lesions in Dairy Sheep

Athanasios I Gelasakis  1 , Aphrodite I Kalogianni  1 , Marios Moschovas  1 , Eirini Tsimpouri  1 , Theodoros Pnevmatikos  1 , Ioannis Bossis  2 , Georgios Arsenos  3 , Panagiotis Simitzis  4
Affiliations

Evaluation of Infrared Thermography for the Detection of Footrot and White Line Disease Lesions in Dairy Sheep

Athanasios I Gelasakis et al. Vet Sci. .

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate temperature distribution at the sheep hoof and evaluate the reliability and diagnostic performance of infrared thermography (IRT) for the detection of footrot and white line disease (WLD) lesions in intensively reared dairy sheep. Hoof lesions were clinically assessed, and IRT was used to measure temperature distribution on hoof superficial tissue in 600 multiparous ewes. Binary regression models were developed and validated, and receiver operating characteristic curves were estimated to assess the predictive value and diagnostic performance of IRT for the detection of hoof lesions. The most sensitive prediction model for the detection of IFR was based on the difference between ambient and hoof heel temperature (sensitivity: 83.3%, specificity: 47.8%, and threshold value: 6.5 °C), whereas the most specific prediction model was based on the difference between ambient and coronary band temperature (sensitivity: 51.9%, specificity: 79.7%, and threshold value: 11.3 °C). In the case of WLD, the diagnostic performance of IRT had limited predictive value. IRT could be a useful tool for hoof health screening in dairy sheep. However, it must be cautiously adapted in cases where environmental, operating, and operator variables are not effectively controlled.

Keywords: ROC curves; binary regression analysis; dairy sheep; foot-related lameness; footrot; infrared thermography; point-of-care diagnostics; sensitivity; specificity; white line disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Temperature measurements at: (a) the coronary band (T1 = El1), (b) the hoof sole (T2 = El1), and the hoof heel (T3 = El2).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean temperature values and error bars for (i) the coronary band, (ii) hoof heel, and (iii) hoof sole and the ambient temperatures in the six studied farms.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Maximum temperature measurements at the coronary band (T1 = El1), the hoof sole (T2 = El1), and the hoof heel (T3 = El2) in animals with (a) footrot and (b) white line disease lesions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scree plot of the components’ eigenvalues as estimated by the principal component analysis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves illustrating predicted probabilities and the diagnostic performances of the differences between the ambient temperature and the maximum temperatures at (a) the coronary band (DT-1), (b) the hoof heel (DT-2), and (c) the hoof sole (DT-3) as regards footrot; mean values of the areas under the ROC curves (C-statistic ± standard error), statistical significance, and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are also presented.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves illustrating the predicted probabilities and the diagnostic performances of the differences between the ambient temperature and the maximum temperatures at (a) the coronary band (DT-1) and (b) the hoof sole (DT-3) as regards white line disease. Mean values of the areas under the ROC curves (C-statistic ± standard error), statistical significance, and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are also presented.
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References

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