Abstract
A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence and risk factors of bovine mastitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae from farms in and around Haramaya district, eastern Ethiopia. A total of 384 lactating cows were selected from small-, medium-, and large-scale production systems. California mastitis test (CMT) was used for screening subclinical mastitis. Out of the total animals examined, 63.02% (n = 242) had mastitis, where 6.77% (n = 26) and 56.25% (n = 216) were clinical and subclinical mastitis respectively. The quarter-level prevalence was 29.04% (n = 446), from which the clinical form was 6.38% (n = 98) and the subclinical was 22.66% (n = 348), and the rest quarters were blind 3.32% (n = 51). Milk samples from clinical as well as CMT positive quarters were cultured for isolation of S. agalactiae, where 10.3% (n = 46) resulted in growth of the bacterium. The prevalence of mastitis was found to be statistically significant among the age groups (p = 0.002), breed (p = 0.000), and parity (p = 0.000). Similar findings were found to the extrinsic risk factors considered; as production type (p = 0.010), teat injury (p = 0.02), and type of floor (p = 0.000). The study confirmed the importance of S. agalactiae as the cause of contagious mastitis and also identified the associated risk factors in the study farms and hence warrants serious attention.
Highlights
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland that has over 130 different isolated causative agents from mastitis milk samples but Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococci, and members of the Enterobacteriaceae are among the most common etiological agents in cows and in other animal species (Quinn et al 1999)
Lactating Holstein-Zebu and local Zebu breeds from 20 dairy farms in and around Haramaya district were categorized into small-scale dairy production (SSDP), medium-scale dairy production (MSDP), and large-scale dairy production (LSDP) based on herd size having 5 or less, 6–30, and 72–171 dairy cattle, respectively (Mureda and Mekuria 2008)
The study showed that the prevalence of bovine mastitis from farms in and around Haramaya district to be 63.02% at cows’ level as determined by the California mastitis test (CMT) and clinical examinations of the udder
Summary
Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland that has over 130 different isolated causative agents from mastitis milk samples but Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococci, and members of the Enterobacteriaceae are among the most common etiological agents in cows and in other animal species (Quinn et al 1999). It is often classified as subclinical or clinical depending on the severity of the disease or contagious and environmental based on the causative agents (Quinn et al 2002; Andrews et al 2003). As with most infectious diseases, mastitis risk factors depends upon three components; exposure to microbes, cow defense mechanisms, and environmental and management factors (Mungube et al 2004)
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