[Veterinary epidemiology].

The author describes the specifics of veterinary epidemiology, in particular its domain and objectives. The large diversity of data sources are partly limited by the lack of standardized nomenclature and registries in many animal species. Even if veterinary epidemiology benefits from methods developed in the last thirty years in human epidemiology, it differs from human epidemiology by: the broad spectrum of animal species and its differences in longevity, pathology and genetics, the extend of control measures available and their direct effect on the epidemiology of the diseases, the priority of cost efficacy of disease control and epidemiological surveillance. The future of veterinary epidemiology lays in new areas, such as herd management and economics, genetic selection and molecular biochemistry, and geriatric epidemiology in pets.