Abstract
Bovine mastitis continues to be a leading cause of heavy economic losses in the dairy industry and a public health hazard globally. This cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence, etiologies of clinical and subclinical mastitis, and associated predisposing factors in Embu and Kajiado counties in Kenya. A semistructured questionnaire was administered to 154 smallholder dairy farmers to collect data on management practices, animal factors, and disease history. A total of 395 dairy cows were initially screened for subclinical mastitis using the California mastitis test (CMT), and milk samples were aseptically collected. Both CMT positive and CMT negative samples were analyzed using conventional bacteriological isolation and identification procedures. In the present study, the overall prevalence of mastitis based on CMT and clinical examination was 80% (316/395), out of which 6.8% (27/395) was clinical mastitis, while 73.1% (289/395) was subclinical mastitis. Based on culture, the overall prevalence of clinical and subclinical mastitis was 51.6% (815/1580), 74.4% (294/395), and 76.6% (118/154) at the quarter, cow, and farm level, respectively. From the 1574 milk samples analyzed by cultured, 1016 bacteria were yielded. The predominant bacteria were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS), 42.8% (435/1016), and in decreasing order, Streptococcus species, 22.2% (226/1016), Staphylococcus aureus, 15.7% (160/1016), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 5.1% (52/1016), and the least was Enterobacter species, 0.7% (7/1016), while 23.7% of the sample yielded no bacterial growth. Risk factor analysis revealed that milking mastitic cows last (p=0.002), using a clean udder drying towel for each cow (p=0.033) and previous history of mastitis (p=0.046) were significantly associated with presence of mastitis. The current study has shown a relatively high prevalence of subclinical mastitis with CNS as predominant bacteria. Therefore, control measures are urgently warranted. Management factors such as milking mastitic cows last, using a clean towel for udder drying for each cow, and culling mastitic cows should be considered and included in the Kenyan mastitis control programs.
Highlights
Bovine mastitis remains one of the most critical diseases of dairy cows globally [1, 2]. is disease is of particular concern, especially in Africa, including Kenya, where there is limited research on mastitis [3, 4]
E study areas broadly fall into two agroclimatic zones. e Kajiado County zone has a hot and humid tropical climate, while Embu is under the trimodal rainy and humid tropical climate. ese two counties were purposefully selected based on the high populations of dairy cows in the regions and the increasing demand for cow milk due to the rapidly growing human population in the regions
A total of 1580 quarters from 395 cows in 154 farms from the two counties were analyzed for mastitis in this study. e overall prevalence of mastitis based on California mastitis test (CMT) and clinical examination was 80% (316/395), of which 6.8% (27/395) were clinically sick and 73.1% (289/395) had subclinical mastitis
Summary
Bovine mastitis remains one of the most critical diseases of dairy cows globally [1, 2]. is disease is of particular concern, especially in Africa, including Kenya, where there is limited research on mastitis [3, 4]. Clinical mastitis, which is less prevalent, is characterized by systemic signs in the cow and visible abnormalities in the udder and milk [11, 12]. Subclinical mastitis is more common and results to reduced milk production without observable clinical signs or abnormalities in the udder or milk [13, 14]. For this reason, subclinical mastitis is challenging to diagnose, persists longer in the herd, and is associated with higher losses compared to clinical mastitis [15]
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