Bovine mastitis: epidemiological, clinical and etiological study in a Saudi Arabian large dairy farm.

Abstract

The epidemiological, etiological and clinical aspects of mastitis in a Saudi Arabian dairy farm with a capacity of 11,200 dairy cows were investigated for a period of 60 days in winter. The disease incidence was 1.8 cases per 100 cows/month.The first month of lactation displayed the highest incidence of mastitis (62.7%), while the late stage of lactation showed the lowest incidence (11.2%). The disease incidence increased with increasing age and lactation number. Repeated occurrence of mastitis was 65.1% among cows with a significant decrease in milk yield (P<0.05). Mild and acute forms were the only types of mastitis diagnosed during the study period (59.7% and 40.3% respectively). In the mild form, udder temperature was normal in 97.0%, body temperature was increased in 0.9% and general dullness was present in 1.3% of cases. The acute form was characterized by hot udder (63.9%), increased body temperature (35.4%) and dullness (37.0%) of cases. The most predominant bacterial isolates were Streptococcus uberis (28.8%), Escherichia coli (18.5%), Streptococcus dysgalactiae (10.8%) and Staphylococcus aureus (9.8%). Other bacteria and fungi were isolated in a range of 0.3 to 3.8%. This is the first report of bovine mycotic mastitis from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Medicinal treatment was effective in 95.3% of acute cases and 97.8% of mild cases. In 2.2% of the cases, infection proceeded to chronicity and culling. Irresponsiveness to treatment and hence culling was observed most commonly in infections of Staph. aureus and E. coli.