Diagnosing mastitis in early lactation: use of Somaticell^®, California mastitis test and somatic cell count

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate different methods for indirectly diagnosing mastitis during the postpartum period. These methods were: automatic and microscopic somatic cell counting (SCC), the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and Somaticell V R . A total of 538 milk samples from 34 cows were used. These were collected at six times: day of parturition (M1) and 3 (M2), 7 (M3), 15 (M4), 21 (M5) and 30 (M6) days after parturition. Automatic and microscopic SCC, CMT and Somaticell V R were all able to detect mastitis during the immediate postpartum period (up to 3 days postpartum). However, higher cut-off values should be applied to automatic and microscopic SCC. The negative score (score 0) of CMT was considered to be the best cut-off point at all times. Moreover, the values found using the Somaticell V R test should not be used to presume the automatic SCC values, since there are discrepancies between the values of Somaticell V R and automatic and microscopic SCC. It can be concluded that the different methods evaluated here to milk cellularity can be applied for diagnosing bovine mastitis, even during the immediate postpartum period, when there is greater cellularity, such as in the colostrum and transition milk. ARTICLE HISTORY

Somatic cell count as a decision tool for selective dry cow therapy in Italy

“…The use of SCC showed to be a potential useful and practical alternative (Sargeant et al 2001;Ferronatto et al 2018). Unfortunately, the criteria proposed by several studies are different and the results obtained are not consistent (Cameron et al 2014;Scherpenzeel et al 2014), whereas the different herd characteristics support the definition of criteria fitting the specific conditions of the country.…”

Assessment of subclinical mastitis diagnostic accuracy by differential cell count in individual cow milk

“…Individual somatic cell count (SCC) represents probably the most practical and sustainable method to monitor udder health in dairy cow, despite it has not the same accuracy as microbiological analysis (Sargeant et al 2001;Ferronatto et al 2018). However, the progressive decrease of mean SCC in dairy herds worldwide is further affecting in SCC accuracy as a subclinical mastitis marker.…”

Acute Phase Proteins (Haptoglobin and Serum Amyloid A) and Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines (IL-12 and IL-10) in Cows Vaccinated with Prototype Killed S. aureus Mastitis Vaccine and Challenged with S. aureus Mastitis Infection.

“…1 and 2, the concentrations was significantly different in groups C. During PB at 0, 3, 8 and 12 hours PB there was a significant difference in groups C. During the bacterial challenge phase at 3,8,12,24 hours, days 7 and 14 PC there was a significant difference in group B. At 0 hour PC there was a significant increase observed in group C.…”

“…Mastitis is a disease of economic importance in the dairy sector [1,2,3]. It is caused by coliform bacteria, staphylococci and streptococci with a range of clinical appearances such as fever, feed withdrawal and reduced milk production [4,5,6,7].…”