Silent Infections in Livestock and other Production Species

Silent infections - those that progress without clear clinical signs in their early stages - pose a significant challenge to veterinary medicine and animal health management. These infections often remain undetected for extended periods, allowing pathogens to persist, spread within populations, and eventually cross species barriers. Subclinical carriers can act as reservoirs for zoonotic agents, complicating disease control and endangering food security, trade, and public health. In livestock and other production species, such as honey bees and fish, silent infections can compound the effects of secondary co-infections, cause significant losses in productivity, reproductive performance, and product quality, leading to substantial economic impact for producers. Moreover, the nature of these infection makes surveillance difficult and may evade conventional diagnostic approaches, emphasizing the need for highly sensitive molecular tools and targeted epidemiological strategies to effectively address this issue. This Research Topic aims to address the complex and often overlooked phenomenon of silent infections in food-producing animals, such as livestock, honey bees, and fish. The goal is to bring together cutting-edge research that elucidates the mechanisms, epidemiology, and consequences of infections that remain clinically unnoticed but biologically active. These infections can silently suppress the immune system, compromise productivity and animal welfare, worsen the clinical outcome of co-infections while facilitating pathogen persistence and transmission. We seek to highlight the diagnostic challenges they present and their implications for disease control, trade, and One Health strategies. By encouraging collaboration across disciplines such as virology, bacteriology, parasitology, immunology, and epidemiology, we aim to advance the understanding of silent infections and promote the development of innovative tools for early detection, risk assessment, and intervention. We invite original research, reviews, brief reports, and case studies that investigate silent infections in livestock and other production species such as honey bees and fish. We welcome submissions that explore:- Viral, bacterial, parasitic, or fungal pathogens with subclinical or persistent presentations.- Diagnostic limitations and advancements in early molecular detection.- Host-pathogen interactions, biomarkers of disease, and in vitro models of silent pathogens .- Epidemiological patterns and hidden transmission dynamics.- Economic and sustainability impacts of undetected infections in production systems.- Zoonotic risk, emerging pathogens, and One Health surveillance strategies.- Control and prevention strategies.- Infections in the context of co-mingling wildlife reservoirs to livestock species. Topic editors: Vanesa Ruiz, Yanina Paola Hecker, Cecilia Ana Langellotti, Victoria Gnazzo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80158/silent-infections-in-livestock-and-other-production-species