Milk amyloid a—a potential biomarker to detect subclinical mastitis in lactating dromedary camel

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to investigate the possible use of Milk Amyloid A (MAA) as a sensitive biomarker to detect subclinical mastitis in the lactating dromedary camel. Quarter milk samples (n=120), from 65 milking dromedary camels, were collected to evaluate somatic cell count (SCC) and MAA. At the area under the curve of 0.859 for MAA (P<0.001) and cut off points of 306000 cells/ml and 1040 ng/ml for SCC and MAA, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the MAA test to detect subclinical mastitis were 100 and 43.9%, respectively. In conclusion, it might be possible to use MAA measurement, as screening test, for early detection of sub-clinical mastitis in dromedary camel.