Mastitis in Small Ruminants

Abstract

Bacterial mastitis in small ruminants is a complex disease, with massive economic loss in dairy sheep/goat industry due to poor productivity. The current mastitis prevention strategy relies on culling of infected ewes or does and or the use of antimicrobial agents to eliminate the bacterial infection. This has a potential risk for developing antibiotic resistant bacteria, posing human health risk from consumption of raw sheep or goat dairy products. Existing experimental and licensed vaccines on the market are ineffective against reducing the risk of mastitis in herds or flocks. Raising the needs for development of improved vaccines against mastitis for use in sheep and goats. This review examines, current understanding of the pathological processes and immunological responses against bacterial mastitis, using S. aureus as an example. By highlighting the protective defense mechanism induced in the udder against S. aureus mastitis. Based on evidence from published studies on pathological process and protective immune response mechanism, the need for improved vaccines for prevention of mastitis in small ruminant is highlighted and the development of a vaccine capable of enhancing immune response mechanism, that reduce the establishment of intramammary infection through induction of local IgA, IgG2 and Th17 immune responses is proposed.

Antibiogram profiles of pathogenic and commensal bacteria in goat and sheep feces on smallholder farm

“…Intramammary infections often take on a chronic character, resulting in reduced milk production, compromised milk quality, and an increased likelihood of progressing to clinical mastitis. The economic consequences of intramammary infections in small ruminants are substantial, encompassing significant costs related to both treatment and prevention (Kahinda, 2022).…”

Review on mastitis and public health importance of mastitis causing pathogens in raw milk from Mastitis infected dairy goat.

“…This process entails three key steps, that is adhesion, invasion and evasion [68]. In brief, the rst step in the pathogenesis process is adhesion to epithelial cells and extracellular matrix, which permits the bacteria to avoid being ushed out of the udder from milk ux pressure [69].In the second step of this process, Staphylococcus aureus again expresses different virulence factors to establish infection by invasion into host cells and tissues [70]. The nal step in the pathogenetic process is an evasion of the host immune response((Nesse et al, 2023).…”

“…[71]. Therefore, adherence of microbial agent to teat epithelial tissue permits them to invade or penetrate this protective barrier and migrate to the teat duct [70].…”

Antimicrobial and Methicillin Resistance Pattern of Potential Mastitis-Inducing Staphylococcus aureus and Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolates from the Mammary Secretion of Dairy Goats

“…Subclinical mastitis has a higher incidence (5–30% or higher) than the clinical form (<5%) in dairy goats, with Staphylococcus spp. being the predominant causative agent in both cases, although other pathogens can also be involved [ 1 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In particular, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), namely Staphylococcus caprae , Staphylococcus epidermidis , Staphylococcus xylosus , Staphylococcus chromogenes and Staphylococcus simulans , most commonly lead to a subclinical infection and less frequently to a clinical disease, whereas the opposite is observed for Staphylococcus aureus [ 8 , 9 ].…”