Animal Health & Welfare
Livestock diseases, epidemiology, zoonoses and animal welfare.
Animal health research covers infectious and production diseases of farm animals - from mastitis in dairy cows and parasitic infections to viral epidemics such as African swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease - including their epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Because many pathogens can pass between animals and humans, the field overlaps with public health ("One Health"). Animal welfare science studies behavior, housing conditions and how welfare can be measured and assessed.
Typical research questions
- How do animal diseases spread between farms and regions, and how can outbreaks be contained?
- How can antibiotic use in livestock be reduced without harming animal health?
- Which zoonotic pathogens pose risks at the animal-human interface?
- How can animal welfare be measured objectively on farms?
Publications per year
Papers whose main topic belongs to this field, 2010–2025.
Research fronts: fastest-growing topics
Papers 2024–2025 compared with 2021–2022, topics with at least 500 recent papers.
| Topic | 2021–2022 | 2024–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Law and WelfareAnimal Trials · Sentience · Legal Relationship · Ethical Considerations | 852 | 1,646 | +93% |
| Animal health and immunologyAcute Phase Proteins · Veterinary Diagnosis · Colostrum Management · Passive Transfer of Immunoglobulins | 1,634 | 2,008 | +23% |
| Milk Quality and Mastitis in Dairy CowsBovine Mastitis · Milk Quality · Dairy Farming · Intramammary Infection | 2,968 | 3,538 | +19% |
| Brucella: diagnosis, epidemiology, treatmentBrucellosis · Zoonosis · Epidemiology · Diagnosis | 1,884 | 2,225 | +18% |
| Zoonotic diseases and public healthZoonotic Diseases · One Health · Emerging Infectious Diseases · Biodiversity | 5,612 | 6,480 | +15% |
| Animal Virus Infections StudiesCoronavirus · Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus · Circovirus · Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus | 3,931 | 4,513 | +15% |
Largest topics
By number of papers 2024–2025.
- Zoonotic diseases and public healthZoonotic Diseases · One Health · Emerging Infectious Diseases · Biodiversity 6,480
- Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesAnimal Welfare · Stress Indicators · Emotional State · Environmental Enrichment 5,172
- Animal Disease Management and EpidemiologyFoot-and-Mouth Disease · African Swine Fever · Livestock Movements · Viral Pathogenesis 4,971
- Animal Virus Infections StudiesCoronavirus · Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus · Circovirus · Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus 4,513
- Milk Quality and Mastitis in Dairy CowsBovine Mastitis · Milk Quality · Dairy Farming · Intramammary Infection 3,538
- Helminth infection and controlAnthelmintic Resistance · Nematodes · Veterinary Parasites · Drug Resistance 3,127
Highly cited recent papers
Most-cited articles and reviews published 2024–2025. Citation counts favor reviews and papers published early in the window.
- The European Union One Health 2023 Zoonoses report
- Global burden associated with 85 pathogens in 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- The One Health Concept
- Interconnecting global threats: climate change, biodiversity loss, and infectious diseases
- A meta-analysis on global change drivers and the risk of infectious disease
- WHO Director-General declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern