Abstract
There is limited epidemiological knowledge on udder health in Kenyan dairy cattle that would aid in a pro-active approach towards mastitis prevention. The study objectives were: (1) to investigate the prevalence and distribution of clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle in Mukurwe-ini and Nakuru Districts, Kenya, and (2) to determine the antibacterial sensitivity of the organisms causing bovine mastitis in these districts. The study involved field-screening of milk samples from 241 dairy cows on 128 farms by use of the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and, if CMT-positive, followed by bacteriological culture of the major causative agents and their respective antibiotic sensitivity to eight commonly used antibiotics. All participating farms were visited twice during the study period. The results obtained during the first and second visits showed the prevalence of clinical mastitis to be very low: 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively; 56.0% and 65.0% of cows were CMT-positive on at least one quarter and 49.6% and 58.7% of cows were culture-positive, respectively. There was no significant difference in mastitis prevalence between Nakuru and Mukurwe-ini districts (p >0.10). Staphylococcus aureus was isolated in 68.0% and 77.0% of samples during the first and second visits, respectively. Other frequently isolated agents included Streptococcus agalactiae, and other Streptococcus spp., S. aureus and S. agalactiae were most sensitive to gentamycin and norfloxacin, and least sensitive to cotrimazole and ampicillin. Knowing the prevalence of mastitogenic organisms and their antibiotic sensitivities could improve treatment efficacy and cow longevity.
Highlights
BackgroundWith its frequent occurrence, mastitis is a very costly disease of the dairy industry, due to reduced milk production during the infection and often after infection, medications used and their associated withdrawal times, reduced fertility and premature culling (Erskine, Wagner & DeGraves 2003; Harmon 1994)
The estimated prevalence of clinical mastitis was very low at 0.9% and 0.5% for the first and second visits, respectively
Of the 130 and 139 cows with California Mastitis Test (CMT)-positive quarters, over one third were test-positive on only one quarter during the first and the second visits, respectively, whilst just over 20% tested positive on all 4 quarters during both the first and the second visits
Summary
BackgroundWith its frequent occurrence, mastitis is a very costly disease of the dairy industry, due to reduced milk production during the infection and often after infection, medications used and their associated withdrawal times, reduced fertility and premature culling (Erskine, Wagner & DeGraves 2003; Harmon 1994). The agents can be categorised into host-adapted pathogens, the most common organisms being Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus (CSA 2004; Lim et al 2007), and environmental pathogens, primarily coliforms and environmental Streptococci that are frequently found in the cow’s environment (Quinn et al 2002). In Kenya, the most common organisms reported to cause udder infections are Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, Trueperella and Pseudomonas species (Gitau et al 2011; Gitau et al 2012). Because these Kenyan results were from laboratory submissions, it is unclear how often these organisms are currently infecting cows epidemiologically. Knowledge of the most common organisms and their antibiotic sensitivity is needed so that one can determine the potential antibiotic regimen to use even before the laboratory results on culture and sensitivity tests are available (Godden et al 2007)
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