The Isolation And Characterization Of Pathogenic Bacteria In Bovine Mastitis And The Research Of The Treatment With Compound Traditional Chinese Medicine

Mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary gland, regardless of cause, characterized by physiological, chemical, and bacteriological changes in milk and by pathological changes in glandular tissue, is one of the most common and costly diseases in dairy cattle in many different countries. The majority of these expenses are due to lost production, discarded milk following therapy, and veterinary costs. Estimates of losses caused by mastitis range from $35 to $295 per cow per year. In Argentina milk production losses have been estimated at US$221 million a year. A dairy producer may simply decide it is more economical to cull a mastitic cow than to treat her, if she does not regain her full production potential.Mastitis can be challenging to deal with, as it is caused by a wide range of different pathogens. Over 135 different microorganisms have been isolated from bovine intramammary infections (IMI), but the prevailing pathogens (at various frequencies) isolated from the milk of cows with mastitis are staphylococci (mostly S. aureus), enterococci (mostly E. faecalis), and streptococcal species, including S. agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae, and S. uberis. Intramammary infusion of antibiotics is the main approach to treatment of mastitis on many dairy farms. Because of increased antibiotic resistance of mastitis pathogens, reduced responses to antibiotic therapy have become very common in veterinary practice. Regional differences in resistance patterns of pathogens exist in worldwide. This situation has caused indiscriminate use of antibiotics with extralabeled doses by some veterinarians in their practice. Due to the extensive use of antibiotics on dairy farms, contamination of milk has become a subject of public concern. In addition, the quantity of antibiotics needed to eliminate mastitis pathogens inhibits the growth of lactic streptococci, the bacteria essential in cheese- or yogurt-making technology; and the residues in milk are a potential threat to human health. Consequently, there is an increasing need for alternative approaches to mastitis treatment.Survey on the incidence of mastitis of 1000 cows in large scale dairy farm and smallholders in Liaocheng indicated that the incidence of mastitis increases with the progress of age, and the incidence decreased after the peak value at 7 to 8 years old; the incidence also increased with the advancing of milk month; the environmental condition can affect the incidence as well; the incidence of mastitis for the machine milking was slightly higher than that of hand milking.Therefore, the objectives of this study were to isolate, characterize the pathogen of mastitis in west of Shandong province, and investigate the drug sensitivity of the mastitic pathogen to Compound Traditional Chinese Medicine and antibiotics. 118 bacterium were isolated from 90 samples of dairy mastitis in west of Shandong province, including 58 of streptococcus agalactiae (49.15%), 25 of Escherichia coli (21.19%), 23 of Staphylococcus Aureus (19.49%), 12 of fungi (10.17%). Results of drug sensitive test show that most of the bacteria had high sensitivity to norfloxacin and levofloxacin and resistance to penicillin and streptomycin. Compound Traditional Chinese Medicine can effectively inhibit the growth of mastitis pathogen.