ETIOPATHOGENETIC ASPECTS OF SHEEP MASTITIS

Abstract

Mastitis in sheep is a serious problem that leads to poor milk quality and is the cause of intestinal disorders in lambs. The etiology of mastitis in sheep is still poorly understood and there is no general opinion on the causative agent of mastitis. There is a little of information in the literature about biofilm-forming mastitis pathogens. The biofilm of microorganisms is the most important virulence factor and contributes to the protection of the pathogen from antimicrobial drugs, thereby reducing the effectiveness of therapeutic drugs.This study aimed to determine the main causative agents of mastitis in sheep in two form: subclinical and clinical from farms of Almaty region, to identify biofilm-forming strains among them, and to study the pathological process in the udder by conducting histological studies.132 samples of milk from various farms in the Almaty region were examined. To determine subclinical mastitis, the express test "Milkotest" was used. The subclinical form of mastitis occurs in farms more often than the clinical form, 20.8% and 13.4%, respectively. In subclinical mastitis, coagulase-negative staphylococci dominated, and in the clinical form, cultures of S. aureus were more often isolated, cultures of E. coli were isolated to a lesser extent. The biofilm formation was determined by a statistical method. Among the isolated cultures, 149 isolates were able to generate biofilm. It has been shown that coagulase-negative staphylococci and S. aureus had a greater potential to produce a biofilm compared to the isolated E. coli cultures. It was also found that the nature of the inflammatory process and pathological and anatomical changes in the udder of animals in mastitis depend on the type of the pathogen