Clinical and subclinical mastitis in buffalue in Mosul area, Iraq

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the occurrence of clinical and sub-clinical cases of mastitis in buffaloes, and to identify the differences in the components of the mastitis milk, to facilitate the investigation of a number of epidemiological risk aspects in relation to the occurrence of mastitis and to detect the different bacterial species associated with the disease. Eight hundred buffalo milk samples were randomly extracted from the animals of different ages in Mosul city, Iraq and examined by California mastitis test (CMT) and Ultrasonic milk analyzer. According to the clinical signs and CMT, the results indicated the prevalence of the clinical and subclinical cases of the disease in buffaloes to be 10.62% and 27.37% respectively. There was a substantial rise in the population of somatic cells /ml in both clinical and subclinical cases of mastitis. The risk factors included third trimester of lactation period, old ages 10-11 years, outdoor feeding animals, > 30 buffaloes/herd, northern and southern parts of the city, Spring and Winter seasons. In clinical instances of mastitis, the occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus was 25.88%, Streptococcus agalactiae 18.82%, Streptococcus pyogenes 16.47%, Corynebacterium bovis 14.11%, Escherichia coli 10.58%, Pseudomonus aeruginosa 7.05%, and Pasteurella multocida 7.05%. In the subclinical cases of mastitis, the prevalence of Staphylococcus chromogens was 14.61%, Staphylococcus xylosus 12.78%, Streptococcus agalactiae 11.87%, Streptococcus dysagalactiae 11.41%, Streptococcus uberis 10.04%, Proteus vulgaris 10.04%, Klebsiella pneumonae 9.58%, Escherichia coli 8.21%, Corynebacterium bovis 7.30%, and Pasteurella multocida 4.10%. It is concluded that mastitis leads to a significant reduction in the levels of total solids, lactose, protein, fat, density, and a significant rise in the levels of pH values and electrical conductivity of the milk samples of clinical and subclinical cases of mastitis.