Mastitis is a contagious disease among mammal animals all throughout the world. It causes rapid decrease in milk production, serious injuries to the infected animal, sometimes even leading to death, and bears public health risk. It is therefore an issue of global concern nowadays, and the animal scientists are attempting to discover newer methods for the prevention and procurement of this disease.
What is Mastitis?
Mastitis is a breast centered disease among female mammals that causes inflammation of the infected mammary gland. Though inflammation to the udder may be caused by external physical injuries, the main reason for this disease is the bacterial attack. The main culprit microorganisms responsible for this disease include Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus uberis. These viruses live mainly in the udders or teat skins.
The animals may be infected either by contagion or by environment. Contagious infection may spread through the sprays of infected milk drawn in the milkers’ hand during stripping. Cross flow of milk between two teat-cups also causes the spread. On the other hand, environmental infections are caused mainly by dirty and insecure environment surrounding the infected animal, i.e. soil, bedding, animal excreta, calving pads, water and several other objects that host bacteria.
Clinical Signs of Mastitis
There are various degrees of mastitis infection. Subclinical mastitis is the primary stage of the disease that doesn’t bring any apparent change in the animal’s body. If an animal, however, is infected by severe, clinical mastitis, some obvious abnormalities are apparent in its body, especially in the udder, teats and the milk it produces. The abnormalities include:
- The udder swells and becomes hard.
- The infected animal feels pain during stripping.
- The color of the udder turns red.
- Body temperature increases significantly.
- Milk gets a watery appearance.
- Flakes and clots become apparent in milk.
- The average milk yield rate decreases significantly.
Methods of Diagnosis
Prevention is always preferable over cure. But once the disease takes place in the body, it should be properly identified. There are several methods to detect the presence and intensity of the mastitis in the infected animal. Fore-milking is the most useful and widely practiced method of detecting clinical mastitis. The primary signs of clinical mastitis include the appearance of clots and flakes in milk, change in milk color, watery appearance of milk etc. Therefore, stripping milk in dark or open surface before milking can give a clear idea about whether the milk is infected or genuine. This method is very easy to use since no extra equipment is required to conduct it.
Another useful method of mastitis diagnosis is to examine the udder. The infected udder swells and become harder than usual. The animal feels pain if touched in the udder. The color of the udder turns red. The disease, if already present and infected the animal, may be detected with a careful cursory examination of the udder. Although comparatively difficult to use, hand-held conductivity meters can detect the very early stages of mastitis disease. Mastitis changes the concentration of ions in milk, which in turn changes its electrical conductivity. Such changes are identifiable at least 24 hours before the visible physiological signs appear. There is no standard of conductivity for all the cattle in general, but the test can be done by comparing the ions concentration level of each of the quarters of the udder. This method is useful because it notifies the farmer about the disease well before it’s too late.
In-line Filters are also used for mastitis detection in many plants. Although it helps detect the clots and flakes in the milk, by the time it is checked, the milk is already in the container. It is not a preferable way for mastitis diagnosis. In brief, a medical diagnosis would verify the infected animal carefully with all the suitable methods applicable, and provide the client with information about how severe the infection is and about how to conduct the treatment properly.
Prevention and Treatment
Some easy measures can help preventing the mastitis. Careful steps are to be taken related to hygiene management. Ensuring the clean and dry bedding, cleaning the udder and drying it before milking, dipping the teat in harmless germicide after milking are the most elementary and important practices that prevent most of the risks related to mastitis.
Antibiotics are widely used as treatment to clinical mastitis. There are two categories of antibiotics: intra-mammary and systematic. Intra-mammary antibiotics are used in case of mild mastitis in a single quarter; while the systematic antibiotic, especially the core-antigen technology-based bacteria is applied when the disease turns severe. Systematic antibiotic is pushed through the subcutaneous route.
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