Use of thermography for the diagnosis of chronic proliferative rhinitis in sheep and its application in the differential diagnosis of the first case affecting the dorsal turbinate

Chronic proliferative rhinitis (CPR) is a fatal prognosis upper respiratory tract disease that affects sheep and is associated with Salmonella enterica subspecies diarizonae serotype 61:k:1, 5, (7). It may be unilateral or bilateral, and although minor changes have been seen in dorsal turbinate, the ventral turbinate is always affected, which makes it possible to observe the proliferative tissue emerging from the nares.The following publication describes the case of an ewe severely affected by a bilateral inflammatory process of the upper respiratory tract. S enterica subspecies diarizonae was isolated from nasal swabs; however, the hottest area observed by a thermal imaging camera was not the ventral area, as usually seen in this process, but the middle area, where the dorsal turbinate is located. In addition, no proliferative tissue was seen through the nostril. At postmortem examination, it was confirmed that CPR seriously affected, for the first time, the dorsal turbinate and ethmoidal areas. Thermographic cameras are useful tools for the diagnosis of upper respiratory tract diseases in sheep.