Association of Milk Somatic Cell Count with Bacteriological Cure of Intramammary Infection—A Review

Abstract

Mastitis is a costly disease in dairy cattle as a result of decreased milk production, discarded milk, and other economic drivers such as treatment costs. Although it can be costly, effective antibiotic therapy is useful to ensure the health and productivity of dairy cattle. Antibiotic usage to treat mastitis can be implemented after diagnosis based upon detection of increased milk somatic cell counts (SCC). Previous work demonstrated antibiotic treatment tends to be more effective when milk SCC are lower prior to treatment. An approach to increasing the cure rates of mastitis may be evaluating milk SCC prior to administering treatment. In order to investigate this potential tool, an effective and reliable method to enumerate SCC is critical. In this review, we (a) dissect the different definitions of cure, (b) review the methods available for enumerating SCC, and (c) discuss factors that are associated with intramammary infection cure with an emphasis on SCC.

Metataxonomic analysis and host proteome response in dairy cows with high and low somatic cell count: a quarter level investigation

“…Overall, few studies up to date have explored changes in the expression and production of proteins from somatic cells during an ongoing IMI, which ultimately can be used as potential biomarkers in the diagnosis of mastitis [ 15 , 47 ]. The robustness of the immune response is highly dependent of the mastitis-causing agent and major pathogens such as streptococci, S. aureus , and coliforms can lead to a significant increase in milk SCC, whereas minor pathogens (Coryneforms and coagulase-negative staphylococci) are associated with lower SCC [ 48 ]. In fact, metataxonomic analysis of milk samples with low SCC (Animal L4, samples JT25-JT32) evidence a high prevalence of Corynebacterium across all quarters, primarily before milking (samples JT25-JT28).…”

Intramammary Ethno-Veterinary Formulation in Bovine Mastitis Treatment for Optimization of Antibiotic Use

“…The slides were left to air-dry and then stained by Newman-Lampert stain and examined microscopically. A result up to 200,000 cells/mL was taken to be a low SCC, since this is generally considered healthy mammary gland [ 38 ]. A high SCC was >200,000 cells/mL, as this is a threshold for the presence of intramammary infection [ 39 ].…”

Antimicrobial Usage and Detection of Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Methicillin- and Tetracycline-Resistant Strains in Raw Milk of Lactating Dairy Cattle

“…Sometimes, clinical mastitis is characterized by fever and decreased appetite [ 4 ], whereas in subclinical mastitis (SCM), no obvious symptoms are detected in the udder or milk. However, the output of milk decreases and somatic cells increase [ 5 ]. Subclinical mastitis occurs more frequently than CM.…”