Modern view on the etiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis of mastitis in cows

Abstract

Mastitis in cows is currently a pathology that causes great economic damage to livestock farms around the world. The quantitative and qualitative indicators of milk are decreasing. Prevention and treatment of breast inflammation in cows is one of the main tasks of veterinarians. For successful treatment, it is necessary to understand the etiology, especially in infectious mastitis. The degree of inflammatory reaction depends on the invading pathogen and the state of the animal's body, including such indicators as the stage of lactation, age, immune status, genetics and feeding diet. Almost 200 microorganisms that cause bovine mastitis have been identified, including bacteria, yeast, fungi and viruses. More than 150 species of bacteria that cause mastitis in cows have been identified, with bacterial mastitis being the most common. Mastitis can be caused by gram-positive bacteria, the most common of which are staphylococci and streptococci, and gram-negative bacteria, more often Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Laboratory diagnostics is necessary to isolate and identify the relevant pathogen, which is necessary for the successful prevention and treatment of mastitis. The most commonly used method of diagnosing mastitis in cows is to measure the number of somatic cells. Express diagnostics are often used, which do not give a numerical result, but indicate only low or high indicators, while the causative agent of mastitis is not identified. The cultivation method is still the main criterion for detecting microorganisms, but it is a very time-consuming and expensive method. With the development of molecular methods, rapid and accurate diagnosis of diseases in animals has become possible. Recently developed diagnostic tests have shown high specificity and sensitivity.