Effect of treatment with the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory meloxicam on milk production, somatic cell count, probability of re-treatment, and culling of dairy cows with mild clinical mastitis

Abstract

It was hypothesized that treatment of clinical mastitis with a combination of a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory treatment (meloxicam) and a parenteral antibiotic (penethamate hydriodide) would result in lower somatic cell counts (SCC), reduced milk yield losses, improved clinical outcomes, and reduced culling rates compared with antibiotic therapy alone. Cows in 15 herds with clinical mastitis during the first 200 d of lactation (median = 13 d) were treated with 5 g of penethamate hydriodide daily for 3 d, and one-half these cows were treated with 250 mg of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug meloxicam (n = 361 cows), whereas the other half (n = 366 cows) were treated with the vehicle (control group). Milk samples for bacteriology were collected from clinically affected glands before treatment, and samples were collected at 7 (+/-3), 14 (+/-3), and 21 (+/-3) d after commencement of treatment for SCC determination. Additionally, the rectal temperature, udder edema score, California Mastitis Test score, and milk clot score were determined before treatment and daily milk yield data were collected across the lactation. There were no differences between the treatment groups in calving date, days in milk, age, breed, rectal temperature, California Mastitis Test score, clot score, udder edema score, or bacterial pathogens isolated before treatment. There was no difference between treatment groups in the number of cows that were defined as treatment failures (i.e., re-treated within 24 d of initial treatment, died, or the treated gland stopped producing milk); 79 (21.9%) vs. 92 (25.1%) cows in the meloxicam and control groups failed, respectively. The SCC was lower in the meloxicam-treated group compared with the control group after treatment [550 +/- 48 vs. 711 +/- 62 geometric mean (x1,000/mL) +/- standard error of the mean SCC for quarters after treatment with meloxicam vs. control, respectively]. There was no difference in milk yield for the cows treated with meloxicam compared with the control cows within 28 or 200 d after treatment. Fewer meloxicam-treated than control cows were removed (culled) from the herds [39/237 (16.4%) vs. 67/237 (28.2%) for meloxicam vs. control cows, respectively; odds ratio = 0.42, 95% confidence interval = 0.26 to 0.68]. It was concluded that treatment of cows with clinical mastitis with a combination of meloxicam and penethamate resulted in a lower SCC and a reduced risk of removal from the herd (culling) compared with treatment with penethamate alone.

Treatment of Clinical Mastitis

“…24 A relatively recent study was conducted with meloxicam for mild clinical mastitis. 25 While the authors reported no difference in treatment failures or milk yield, the SCC was significantly lower in the meloxicamtreated group. Whether this lowered SCC is actually worthwhile is a matter for debate.…”

Mediation analysis to estimate direct and indirect milk losses associated with bacterial load in bovine subclinical mammary infections

“…If neutrophils are effective as antimicrobial defences, they are also a putative source of molecules with proinflammatory and proteolytic roles which harm the mammary epithelium (Capuco et al, 1986;Mehrzad et al, 2005). In such cases, a therapeutic approach is to treat cows with anti-inflammatory agents (McDougall et al, 2009). Another method would be to breed animals whose neutrophils are best able to kill bacteria (Detilleux et al, 1995) so that few somatic cells are necessary to kill pathogens, or animals with superior antibody-mediated immune responses (Thompson-Crispi et al, 2012) so they do not need to rely on their cellular immunity, or animals with beneficial anti-oxidant defenses and tissue repair mechanisms (Lauzon et al, 2005).…”

Therapeutic efficacy of Chymotrypsin in acute bovine mastitis

“…Anti-inflamatorios no esteroidales como el carprofeno pueden ser utilizados para acelerar la recuperación de la glándula mamaria en terapias concomitantes con antibacterianos. Otros como el meloxicam también son recomendados en combinaciones con antibacterianos, debido a que permiten disminuir los conteos de células somáticas con mayor eficacia que con el solo tratamiento antimicrobiano (8). Es bien conocido, que durante el proceso inflamatorio ocurrido durante la mastitis, la liberación de endotoxinas bacterianas es la causa de signos sistémicos como la elevación de la temperatura corporal, disminución de la motilidad ruminal, e incluso el aumento en la frecuencia cardiaca y respiratoria; por tal motivo, utilizar fármacos no solo con actividad anti-inflamatoria sino también anti-endotoxémica, puede acelerar el proceso de recuperación.…”

“…Meloxicam is also recommended. These medicines help to decrease somatic cell counts better than with a single antimicrobial treatment (8). During the inflammatory process, the release of bacterial endotoxin causes systemic symptoms such as elevated body temperature, decreased ruminal motility, and even increased heart and respiratory rates.…”