Prevalence and etiological agents of subclinical mastitis at the end of lactation in nine dairy herds in North-East Poland

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and etiological agents of subclinical mastitis at the end of lactation in nine dairy herds in North-East Poland. In total, 387 Polish HF were involved in the study. The diagnosis of mastitis was performed on the basis of clinical examination of the udder, macroscopic evaluation of milk, determination of somatic cell count and bacteriological examination of milk. Subclinical mastitis was found in an average of 36.7% (range from 21.0% to 53.1%) of cows and of 15.7% (range from 9.6% to 25.2%) of quarters. Coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS; 31.6% of quarters), Streptococcus (Str.) agalactiae (15.6% of quarters), Staphylococcus (Staph.) aureus (12.1% of quarters) and fungi (12.2% of quarters) were most frequently isolated from subclinical mastitis. Etiological agents of subclinical mastitis differed strongly between herds. The results of this study showed that the incidence of subclinical mastitis at the end of lactation in dairy herds in North-East Poland is high. CNS were the most frequently isolated from subclinical mastitis cases, however mastitis caused by the contagious pathogens Str. agalactiae and Staph. aureus is still a problem. The fungal infections of the mammary gland also play an important role.

Etiological agents of bovine mastitis in Poland

“…These microorganisms were also isolated in our previous study (18). The results are in agreement with the data reported by other authors, although percentages of each species sometimes differ fundamentally (2,8,10,24,25,31).…”

“…(1.2%) infection has been observed in comparison with the years 2003-2005 (3.8%) (18). In our study C. bovis was the causative agent of bovine mastitis in 1.1% of the cases, which is in contrast to the results obtained from the study including nine dairy herds in North-East Poland (5.4%) (31). C. bovis is traditionally considered to be a minor mastitis pathogen, however it has become more common in Finland in 2004 (34.4%) (24).…”

Phenotypical and Genotypical Antimicrobial Resistance of Coagulase-negative staphylococci Isolated from Cow Mastitis

“…About 10-20% of all udder inflammation cases during the first lactation period are caused by CNS (Pyorala and Taponen 2009). The prevalence of the most common specific pathogen and the range of CNS' biological properties become problematic when trying to keep the epidemiology situation under control (Piessens et al 2011, Sztachanska et al 2016). During our study, CNS were isolated in 74.03% of cases of subclinical mastitis.…”

“…Although CNS are not as pathogenic as other principal mastitis pathogens and CNS infection is mostly subclinical, CNS can cause persistent infections, which result in increased milk somatic cell count and decreased milk quality. Prevalent CNS species vary according to the geographical region under scrutiny (Soares L. C. 2012, Sztachanska et al 2016.…”

Identificación molecular y frecuencia de patógenos aislados de mastitis bovina en establos de la Península de Baja California, México

“…Al identificar la especie que está provocando esta condición, se puede deducir y reducir la fuente de infección, diseñar programas de prevención y control, y orientar una estrategia terapéutica. Por otra parte, la leche y los productos lácteos elaborados con leche proveniente de vacas con mastitis, pueden provocar enfermedades en los seres humanos que los consumen (9) ; de hecho, algunas especies bacterianas aisladas de vacas con mastitis se consideran zoonóticas, tales como S. aureus, Streptococcus spp., E. coli, Leptospira spp., Mycobacterium bovis, Trueperella pyogenes, Campylobacter jejuni, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (10) y Pasteurella multocida (11) .…”