Mastitis is one of the most common diseases in dairy production, and homeopathic remedies have been used increasingly in recent years to treat it. Clinical trials evaluating homeopathy have often been criticized for their inadequate scientific approach. The objective of this triple-blind, randomized controlled trial was to assess the efficacy of homeopathic treatment in bovine clinical mastitis. The study was conducted on a conventionally managed dairy farm between June 2013 and May 2014. Dairy cows with acute mastitis were randomly allocated to homeopathy (n = 70) or placebo (n = 92), for a total of 162 animals. The homeopathic treatment was selected based on clinical symptoms but most commonly consisted of a combination of nosodes with Streptococcinum, Staphylococcinum, Pyrogenium, and Escherichia coli at a potency of 200c. Treatment was administered to cows in the homeopathy group at least once per day for an average of 5 d. The cows in the placebo group were treated similarly, using a placebo preparation instead (lactose globules without active ingredients). If necessary, we also used allopathic drugs (e.g., antibiotics, udder creams, and anti-inflammatory drugs) in both groups. We recorded data relating to the clinical signs of mastitis, treatment, time to recovery, milk yield, somatic cell count at first milk recording after mastitis, and culling. We observed cows for up to 200 d after clinical recovery. Base-level data did not differ between the homeopathy and placebo groups. Mastitis lasted for an average of 6 d in both groups. We observed no significant differences in time to recovery, somatic cell count, risk of clinical cure within 14 d after disease occurrence, mastitis recurrence risk, or culling risk. The results indicated no additional effect of homeopathic treatment compared with placebo. The advantages or disadvantages of homeopathy should be carefully assessed for individual farms.
Transition cow diseases are a multifactorial complex. Veterinaries need reliable indicators to identify risk animals, take treatment decisions or monitor the metabolic state of the herd. The identification and development of prognostic markers, accompanied by sound metaphylactic treatment protocols are needed. For the trial 80 German Holstein dairy cows (≥2 nd lactation, clinically healthy and pregnant) were selected from the herd. The study included an intense analysis of each animal from 14 days ante-partum until 49 days post-partum: daily milk yield, monthly milk content analysis, clinical state throughout the trial, ultrasonography of the liver and back-fat tissue measurement, liver biopsies, blood and urine sampling, rumination and locomotion behaviour. To evaluate a metaphylactic treatment protocol with Butaphosphan and Cyanocobalamin two groups received a treatment with Catosal ® at either a low or high dosage (5 ml and 10 ml/100 kg body weight, 10 % Butaphosphan and 0,005 % Cyanocobalamin) and two placebo-groups were formed (5 ml and 10 mL NaCl 0,9 %/100 kg body weight). We identified "high risk" animals based on their metabolite profiles and that these metabolic alterations were already present prepartum. The cows in the spring-calving group exhibited higher clinical scores (e.g. concerning the genital tract, the gastro-intestinal tract and treatment frequency), fat accumulation in the liver and higher serum fatty acid concentrations, indicative for a more pronounced energy deficit in this group. By the analysis of each group separately at the separate time points the effect of the treatment with Butaphosphan and Cyanocobalamin emerged. In the "high-risk" group a long-lasting effect (day 28 postpartum, 3 weeks after treatment) was observed. Further analysis is needed to identify the metabolites involved in the alterations observed across the transition period, as well as describing "high-risk" animals and treatment effect with Butaphosphan and Cyanocobalamin and bringing the observed metabolic alterations on a production level.
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