What the environment hides: emerging use of non-invasive sampling in animal health
Profesión Veterinaria publish this article
July 10th, 2025
Herranz-Benito C., Garcia-Seco T., Perello A., Diez-Guerrier A., Martinez A., Gortazar C., Dominguez L. and Perez-Sancho M..
Surveillance based on the detection and monitoring of veterinary pathogens is a fundamental pillar of health prevention, particularly relevant in the case of emerging agents. This has gained special interest in recent decades, driven by the "One Health" approach, which proposes monitoring animal health, protecting public health, and ensuring the health of ecosystems in a holistic manner. Furthermore, the emergence of new diseases, many of them zoonotic, raises the need to develop alternative strategies that complement and improve traditional detection systems, allowing us to overcome the logistical challenges associated with them. In this context, methodological approaches based on environmental sampling are gaining interest for the detection, quantification, and characterization of pathogens (and associated factors), which in turn allow for minimizing the stress in animals associated with their handling. To achieve this, it is essential to use sample collection methods that involve the lowest possible level of disturbance, known as noninvasive sampling.

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