Bovine

mastitis Mastitis is inflammation of the breast or udder, usually associated with breastfeeding. Symptoms typically include local pain and redness. There is often an associated fever and general soreness. Onset is typically fairly rapid and usually occ ...

is the persistent, inflammatory reaction of the

udder An udder is an organ formed of two or four mammary glands on the females of dairy animals and ruminants such as cattle, goats, and sheep. An udder is equivalent to the breast in primates, elephantine pachyderms and other mammals. The udder is ...

tissue due to physical trauma or microorganisms infections.

Mastitis Mastitis is inflammation of the breast or udder, usually associated with breastfeeding. Symptoms typically include local pain and redness. There is often an associated fever and general soreness. Onset is typically fairly rapid and usually occ ...

, a potentially fatal

mammary gland A mammary gland is an exocrine gland that produces milk in humans and other mammals. Mammals get their name from the Latin word ''mamma'', "breast". The mammary glands are arranged in organs such as the breasts in primates (for example, human ...

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

, is the most common

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred with the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species '' Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and worldwide. It is also the most costly disease to the

dairy industry A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

from cows suffering from mastitis has an increased somatic cell count. Prevention and control of mastitis requires consistency in sanitizing the cow barn facilities, proper milking procedure and segregation of infected animals. Treatment of the disease is carried out by penicillin injection in combination with sulphar drug.

Definition

Mastitis occurs when

white blood cells White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...

(leukocytes) are released into the

, usually in response to

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

invading the teat canal or occasionally by

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

, mechanical, or thermal trauma on the udder.

-secreting tissue and various ducts throughout the mammary gland are damaged due to

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...

s released by the bacteria resulting in reduced milk yield and quality.

Identification

This disease can be identified by abnormalities in the udder such as swelling, heat, redness, hardness, or pain (if it is clinical). Other indications of mastitis may be abnormalities in milk such as a watery appearance, flakes, or clots. When infected with sub-clinical mastitis, a cow does not show any visible signs of infection or abnormalities in milk or on the udder.

Mastitis-causing bacteria

Microorganisms that are known to cause mastitis include: These microbes can be classified as environmental or contagious depending on mode and source of transmission.

Types of mastitis

Mastitis may be classified according two different criteria: either according to the clinical symptoms or depending on the mode of transmission. ;Clinical symptoms * Clinical mastitis : The form in which macroscopic changes in the milk and udder of the milch animal is easily detectable by the milker. * Sub-Clinical mastitis : The form in which the milk and udder of the milch animal appear normal and can be diagnosed by testing of milk samples for various compositional changes and presence of pathogens and somatic cells. * per acute mastitis * acute mastitis * sub acute mastitis * chronic mastitis : This form includes no pain in the udder but little compositional changes in the milk. ;Mode of transmission * Contagious mastitis also known as bovine mastitis * Environmental mastitis * Summer mastitis (which occurs in summer months in heifers or unmilked cows)

Transmission

Mastitis is most often transmitted by repetitive contact with the

milking machine Milking is the act of removing milk from the mammary glands of cattle, water buffalo, humans, goats, sheep, and, more rarely, camels, horses, and donkeys. Milking may be done by hand or by machine, and requires the animal to be currently or rec ...

, and through contaminated hands or materials. Another route is via the oral-to-udder transmission among calves. Feeding calves on milk may introduce some mastitis causing bacteria strain in the oral cavity of the calf where it will stay dormant until it is transmitted elsewhere. Since grouped calves like to stimulate suckling, they will transmit the bacteria to the udder tissue of their fellow calves. The bacteria will lay dormant in the udder tissue as the calf grows until it begins to lactate. That is when the bacteria activates and causes mastitis. This calls for strict calf management practices to curb this route of transmission. Micro-organisms enter through the

teat A teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals from which milk flows or is ejected for the purpose of feeding young. In many mammals, the teat projects from the udder. The number of teats varies by mammalian species and often corr ...

tip into the teat duct where they get colonized due to the presence of leftover milk in the duct and subsequently spread throughout the udder causing infection. The effect of unhygienic milking machines and incomplete milking can help in this infection.

Effects on milk composition

Mastitis can cause a decline in

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

and an increase in

lactoferrin Lactoferrin (LF), also known as lactotransferrin (LTF), is a multifunctional protein of the transferrin family. Lactoferrin is a globular proteins, globular glycoprotein with a molecular mass of about 80 Atomic mass unit, kDa that is widely repre ...

. It also results in decreased

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...

, the major

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

in milk. As most

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

in milk is associated with casein, the disruption of casein

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors **Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organi ...

contributes to lowered calcium in milk. The milk protein continues to undergo further deterioration during processing and storage. Milk from cows with mastitis also has a higher somatic cell count. Generally speaking, the higher the somatic cell count, the lower the milk quality. It also has a high microbial count. This reduces its yield.

Constituents with increased constitution

The levels of total whey proteins (Mainly

bovine serum albumin Bovine serum albumin (BSA or "Fraction V") is a serum albumin protein derived from cows. It is often used as a protein concentration standard in lab experiments. The nickname "Fraction V" refers to albumin being the fifth fraction of the origin ...

immunoglobulins An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that cause di ...

) (Na and Cl ions) and other ions (Cu, Fe, Zn) various enzymes and certain

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide (sugar) chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known a ...

s increase significantly. The pH of the milk increases too. Enzymes namely

protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products ...

lipase In biochemistry, lipase ( ) refers to a class of enzymes that catalyzes the hydrolysis of fats. Some lipases display broad substrate scope including esters of cholesterol, phospholipids, and of lipid-soluble vitamins and sphingomyelinases; howe ...

aldolase Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase (), often just aldolase, is an enzyme catalyzing a reversible reaction that splits the aldol, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, into the triose phosphates dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphat ...

sorbitol Sorbitol (), less commonly known as glucitol (), is a sugar alcohol with a sweet taste which the human body metabolizes slowly. It can be obtained by reduction of glucose, which changes the converted aldehyde group (−CHO) to a primary alco ...

dehydrogenase A dehydrogenase is an enzyme belonging to the group of oxidoreductases that oxidizes a substrate by reducing an electron acceptor, usually NAD+/NADP+ or a flavin coenzyme such as FAD or FMN. Like all catalysts, they catalyze reverse as well as ...

also get increased.

Constituents with decreased constitution

The levels of

lactose Lactose is a disaccharide composed of galactose and glucose and has the molecular formula C12H22O11. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from (Genitive case, gen. ), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix ''-o ...

, fat, total

(alpha and beta fractions decrease but gamma fraction increase ) some whey proteins ( alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin) potassium and other minerals (Ca, Mg, P) decreases. Mastitic milk generally has lower SNF (solid-not-fat).

Xanthine oxidase Xanthine oxidase (XO or XAO) is a form of xanthine oxidoreductase, a type of enzyme that generates reactive oxygen species. These enzymes catalyze the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and can further catalyze the oxidation of xanthine to ...

reduces by nearly half.

Detection

California Mastitis Test Schalmtestplatte

Cattle affected by mastitis can be detected by examining the udder for inflammation and swelling, or by observing the consistency of the milk, which will often develop clots or change color when a cow is infected. Another method of detection is the California mastitis test, which is designed to measure the milk's somatic cell count as a means for detecting inflammation and infection of the udder. The pH value of mastitic milk is higher than that of normal milk. On mixing 5ml of milk with 1 ml of bromothymol blue, the appearance of blue green colour indicated mastitic milk which has a pH of 6.8 or more as against the grass green colour produced by normal milk that has a pH of 6.6. Normal milk has a chloride content of 0.08 to 0.14% whereas abnormal milk has more than 0.14%. The chloride content of milk can be estimated by addition of

silver nitrate Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar causti ...

solution and 2 to 3 drops of

potassium chromate Potassium chromate is the inorganic compound with the formula Potassium, K2Chromate ion, CrO4. This yellow solid is the potassium salt of the Chromate ion, chromate anion. It is a common laboratory chemical, whereas sodium chromate is important ...

as an indicator, A yellow colour indicates that the milk is abnormal. Catalase test is also used to detect catalase which is present only in mastitic milk.

Resazurin Resazurin (7-Hydroxy-3''H''-phenoxazin-3-one 10-oxide) is a phenoxazine dye that is weakly fluorescent, nontoxic, cell-permeable, and redox‐sensitive. Resazurin has a blue to purple color above pH 6.5 and an orange color below pH 3.8. It is u ...

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease, protease enzyme that curdling, curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, su ...

test is based on the disturbance in the salt balance and increase in leucocyte content in mastitic milk. Coagulation of milk by rennet is sowed down due to disturbed salt balance and leucocytes reduce resazurin dye faster. Mastitic samples give delayed coagulation but faster resazurin reduction compared to normal milk

Treatment

Treatment is possible with

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

– such as penicillin, but milk from such cows is not marketable until drug residues have left the cow's system. Antibiotics may be systemic (injected into the body), or they may be forced upwards into the teat through the teat canal (intramammary infusion). Cows being treated may be marked with tape to alert dairy workers, and their milk is syphoned off and discarded. To determine whether the levels of antibiotic residuals are within regulatory requirements, special

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

exist. Vaccinations for mastitis are available, but as they only reduce the severity of the condition, and cannot prevent reoccurring infections, they should be used in conjunction with a mastitis prevention program.

Control

Practices such as good

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

, proper milking

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

, and the culling of chronically infected cows can help. Ensuring that cows have clean, dry bedding decreases the risk of infection and transmission. Dairy workers should wear

rubber gloves A rubber glove is a glove made out of natural or synthetic rubber. 'Rubber' refers to durable, waterproof, and elastic material made from natural or synthetic latex. Rubber gloves can be unsupported (rubber only) or supported (rubber coating of ...

while milking, and machines should be cleaned regularly to decrease the incidence of transmission.

Prevention

A good milking routine is vital. This usually consists of applying a pre-milking teat dip or spray, such as an iodine spray, then wiping teats dry prior to milking. The milking machine is then applied. After milking, the teats can be cleaned again to remove any growth medium for bacteria. A post milking product such as iodine-propylene glycol dip is used as a disinfectant and a barrier between the open teat and the bacteria in the air. There is a risk of mastitis occurring post-milking as the teat orifice takes around 15 minutes to close after being milked. If the animal sits in a place contaminated with fæces or urine this can increase the risk of mastitis during the orifice closing period.

Industry costs

This disease costs the US dairy industry about 1.7 to 2 billion

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

each year.

References

External links

UC Davis fact sheetNMC - Global organization for mastitis control and milk quality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mastitis In Dairy Cattle Dairy farming Bovine diseases