Veterinary Medicine 11th Edition
Preface to the Eleventh Edition
The Eleventh Edition of Veterinary Medicine, 56 years since the first “Blood and Henderson” Veterinary Medicine was published in 1960 and 9 years since the Tenth Edition was
published in 2007. Veterinary Medicine focuses on diseases of ruminants, horses, and swine, and it is the most extensively cited textbook
in veterinary medicine, with a recent total of 4,267 citations (Google
Scholar, May 2016).
Because the demand for this book remains strong,
we assume that we have developed a philosophy, format, and price
that are attractive and meet the demands of undergraduate veterinary
students and graduate veterinarians working in the field of largeanimal medicine.
Substantial changes were made
to the format of the book for the
Eleventh Edition to keep current with the continuing expansion of
knowledge about the diseases of large animals.
The book has been
extensively revised and reorganized based on the major organ system
affected. The organ systems approach reflects the profound impact
that Dr. D. C. Blood had on the practice of large-animal medicine
worldwide (see Foreword); he emphasized that the clinical examination procedure should be a systems-based method.
We have extended
the systems approach implemented in the First Edition through the
assignment of diseases to the primary organ system affected or the
most obvious clinical sign referable to an organ system. As a result,
the Eleventh Edition contains 21 chapters, compared with 36 chapters
in the Tenth Edition.
Thirteen chapters deal with specific organ
systems, including the alimentary tract of ruminants and nonruminants; the liver and pancreas; and the cardiovascular, hemolymphatic/
immune, respiratory, urinary, nervous, musculoskeletal, and reproductive systems; in addition to metabolic/endocrine abnormalities,
diseases of the mammary gland, and, finally, diseases of the skin, eye,
and ear.
Each of these chapters is organized in the following manner:
general diseases; infectious diseases, listed in order of cause (bacterial,
viral, prion, protozoal, fungal, metazoan) and species affected (all
large animals, ruminants, horses, pigs); metabolic diseases; nutritional
diseases; toxicologic diseases and environmental agents; neoplastic
diseases; congenital and inherited diseases; and, finally, diseases of
unknown etiology.
The remaining eight chapters deal with specific
medicine topics, as follows: clinical examination and making a diagnosis; examination of the population; biosecurity and infection
control; general systemic states; disturbances of free water, electrolytes, acid-base balance, and oncotic pressure; practical antimicrobial
therapeutics; perinatal diseases, and systemic and multi-organ diseases. A comprehensive index permits the reader to easily access relevant information in different chapters of the book.
We have attempted to ensure that the book continues to have an
international scope by including clinically important diseases occurring in large animals worldwide.
The book notes the eradication of
Rinderpest in 2011 and includes new or extensively revised sections
on a variety of topics, such as biosecurity and infection control; the
Schmallenberg and bluetongue viral epidemics of ruminants in
Europe; Wesselsbron disease in cattle and hypokalemia in adult cattle;
equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis; Hendra virus infection;
multisystemic, eosinophilic, epitheliotropic disease of horses; hypoglycin A intoxication and equine metabolic syndrome; porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome; porcine epidemic diarrhea and
circovirus, and malignant catarrh in pigs; Torque teno, Menangle, and
Japanese B viruses in pigs; and numerous recently identified congenital and inherited disorders of large animals.
Reflecting the international scope of the book, the four
authors and nine coauthors were educated or have practiced veterinary medicine in 12 countries covering five continents, including
Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands,
Nigeria, Turkey, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United
States, and Zambia.
We continue to emphasize the epidemiology and pathophysiology of each disease, which are important in understanding the rationale for the diagnosis, treatment, and control. This means that we
strive to maintain an optimum balance between published research
and what field veterinarians find useful in their daily work. To make
it easier for the reader to find particular pieces of information, long
passages of prose have been divided into smaller sections using headings and subheadings. Key words, terms, and phrases have been
emboldened for emphasis and to make it easier for the reader to
identify important points. We also continue to include the zoonotic
and bioterrorism implications of many diseases and how the largeanimal veterinarian is becoming more involved in the control of diseases transmissible to humans. The use of individual diagnostic tests,
described under Clinical Pathology for each disease, continues to be a
challenge for all of us, especially with the increased availability of
genomic or genetic testing and point-of-care testing. We have continued to concentrate on those tests that are accepted through common
use, to discuss their limitations if they are known, and to provide a
reference to newer tests that have future promise in diagnosis. A
common limitation of publications describing new diagnostic tests is
the absence of, or inadequate, information on the characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy) of the test in the population of animals
in which it will be used.
Consistent with our deep commitment to practicing evidencedbased veterinary medicine, relevant references from 2006 onward
have been cited, and important review and scientific papers, including
Internet sites, are identified as Further Reading. We refer readers to
previous editions of the book for references to earlier works.
When permitted by the quality and number of peer-reviewed publications, we have applied the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) process (see Foreword)
to provide a summary of treatment and control recommendations in
a box at the end of the section. This process distills information down
to one of four recommendations that reflect “a judgment that most
well-informed people would make”: R1, “do it”; R2, “probably do it”;
R3, “probably don’t do it”; and R4, “don’t do it.” We believe that the
GRADE approach will prove helpful to large-animal veterinarians,
and we look forward to expanding this approach in future editions of
this book.
Constraining the size of the book has been a constant preoccupation and a difficult task with the ever-increasing volume of published
information and the constantly growing list of diseases. Our intention
has always been to provide information on all recorded diseases.
Despite of reductions in reference lists and extensive editing to minimize repetition, the book is still large, necessitating a move to two
volumes. More than 150 new figures have been added to the book to
assist in presenting information.
We continue to subscribe to the practice and philosophy of earlier
editions of this book in having a small number of authors contribute
the majority of the text, with contributions from content specialists
for particular topics. We believe that analysis and review of the relevant literature by a small number of authors with a broad knowledge
and global perspective of large animal medicine assures a consistency
of approach to each topic.
Our authors are based in the United States,
Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Canada and have extensive experience in international veterinary medicine.
Dr. Peter Constable, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Illinois, USA, has assumed the responsibilities of senior
author. He revised a number of sections related to specific ruminant
diseases, in addition to major sections of the chapters on general
systemic states and diseases of the ruminant alimentary tract, cardiovascular system, urinary system, musculoskeletal system, nervous
system, and mammary gland. Dr. Constable also revised the chapters
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