Patent ID: 7277744

Claim:
A method for detecting infection of an animal, comprising the steps of: (a) scanning a selected anatomical structure selected from a mammary gland, an eye, a nose or an ear of the animal with an infrared camera to obtain an infrared thermographic image of the selected anatomical structure of the animal; (b) processing the image to provide a measure of temperature information selected from a measure of central tendency, a measure of dispersion, or total temperature for only a portion of the image representing the selected anatomical structure; (c) comparing the measure of the temperature information to a predetermined value, the predetermined value being a measure of central tendency, a measure of dispersion, or total temperature obtained from only a portion of one or more infrared thermographic images representing the same selected anatomical structure of either the same animal pre-infection or the same selected anatomical structure of a population of uninfected animals of the same species; and (d) detecting subclinical, early or clinical infection of the animal if the measure of the temperature information is greater than the predetermined value by at least a predetermined amount.