Abstract
Bovine mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland caused by a multitude of pathogens with devastating consequences for the dairy industry. Global annual losses are estimated to be around €30 bn and are caused by significant milk losses, poor milk quality, culling of chronically infected animals, and occasional deaths. Moreover, mastitis management routinely implies the administration of antibiotics to treat and prevent the disease which poses serious risks regarding the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Conventional diagnostic methods based on somatic cell counts (SCC) and plate-culture techniques are accurate in identifying the disease, the respective infectious agents and antibiotic resistant phenotypes. However, pressure exists to develop less lengthy approaches, capable of providing on-site information concerning the infection, and in this way, guide, and hasten the most adequate treatment. Biosensors are analytical tools that convert the presence of biological compounds into an electric signal. Benefitting from high signal-to-noise ratios and fast response times, when properly tuned, they can detect the presence of specific cells and cell markers with high sensitivity. In combination with microfluidics, they provide the means for development of automated and portable diagnostic devices. Still, while biosensors are growing at a fast pace in human diagnostics, applications for the veterinary market, and specifically, for the diagnosis of mastitis remain limited. This review highlights current approaches for mastitis diagnosis and describes the latest outcomes in biosensors and lab-on-chip devices with the potential to become real alternatives to standard practices. Focus is given to those technologies that, in a near future, will enable for an on-farm diagnosis of mastitis.
Highlights
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland, most often of infectious origin
Riffon et al described an assay to detect E. coli, S. aureus, S. agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae, S. parauberis, and S. uberis (Riffon et al, 2001), and Phuektes et al presented a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the simultaneous detection of S. aureus, S. agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae, and S. uberis (Phuektes et al, 2001)
Graber et al used real-time quantitative PCR, for detection of S. aureus by targeting the nuc gene (Graber et al, 2007), and a two-tube multiplex PCR assay for simultaneous detection of 10 bacterial species, S. aureus, S. chromogenes, S. epidermidis, S. sciuri, S. haemolyticus, S. simulans, S. agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae, S. uberis, and E. coli in milk, was reported by Shome et al (2011)
Summary
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland, most often of infectious origin. It is a painful condition, with serious implications in animal welfare and is one of the most important reasons for cows to prematurely leave the herd. Prompt treatment, and improve herd management, there is an increased demand for on-farm tests that could evaluate if a mastitis case is of infectious origin and identify the pathogen (Adkins and Middleton, 2018). Microarray analysis for seven mastitis pathogens Molecular test based on DNA hybridization Sedimentation microfluidic (rotational disc), exploiting the differences between fat and cell fraction in milk. Whereas intramammary antibiotic therapy improves the rate of cure in cows infected with coagulase-negative staphylococci, and environmental streptococci, antibiotic’s use is not recommended for cows with E. coli associated mild and moderate clinical mastitis (Ganda et al, 2016) In this view, the correct identification of the causing pathogen is critical for a targeted therapy
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