Milk Hygiene in Rural Southwestern Uganda: Prevalence of Mastitis and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Bacterial Contaminants of Milk and Milk Products

Abstract

Mastitis and antimicrobial resistance are a big challenge to the dairy industry in sub-Saharan Africa. A study was conducted in Kashongi and Keshunga subcounties of Kiruhura District (in Uganda) where the government and private sector have deliberate programs to improve production efficiency, quality, and safety of milk and its products. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of mastitis, its common causative agents, antimicrobial sensitivity of mastitis causing organisms, and contaminants of processed milk products: yoghurt and ghee. Seventy-one milk, fourteen yoghurt, and three ghee samples were collected from nine farms. Of the 71 cows tested, 54 (76.1%) had mastitis. The mastitis cases from Keshunga were 32 (59.3%) and Kashongi contributed 22 (40.7%) of the cases. The common mastitis causative agents were Staphylococcus spp. (30.8%), Streptococcus spp. (12.3%), Corynebacterium spp.(15.4%), and E. coli (7.7%). Some of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and penicillin. Prevalent contaminants of yoghurt were Staphylococcus spp. (8.3%), Streptococcus spp. (8.3%), Corynebacterium spp. (8.3%), and E. coli (8.3%), whereas all ghee contained Streptococcus spp. (100%). Prevalence of mastitis, antimicrobial resistance, and contamination of milk products are high in the study area. Targeted programs to prevent and control mastitis as well as antibiotic resistance are recommended.

Serum Amyloid A4 and Ceruloplasmin Evaluated Mastitic Cattle with Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus including Resistant Genes

“…Regarding to E. coli isolates, the present results were closely like to results (17.82%) of clinical mastitis study in Egypt [16] but higher than others in Slovakia [17] and in Uganda [18].…”

Genetic Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus From Subclinical Mastitis Cases in Dairy Cows in Rwanda

“…Of these, ST152/1633 may pose a potential zoonotic threat since the sequence type frequently are encountered among humans in Africa while ST5477 so far appear to be a sequence type local to east Africa and Rwanda. Since tetracycline and penicillin are used to treat mastitis in the region ( 50 ), one can speculate that their frequent use and lack of biosecurity and mastitis control program in dairy cows in Rwanda ( 6 ) have contributed to the high resistance levels reported in this study.…”

Pastoral community practices, microbial quality and associated health risks of raw milk in the milk value chain of Nakasongola District, Uganda

“…Also the higher resistance to Tet in our study than in Kasozi et al's (2014) study (55% vs 33%) from the cattle corridor may be linked to the excessive use of tetracycline drugs by farmers. Tet is relatively cheap and readily available as over-the-counter drug used by the farmers in Uganda without veterinary supervision (Ssajjakambwe et al 2017). However, further studies are needed to generate household data on antimicrobial use to provide conclusive evidence on the extent of antimicrobial resistance of milk-borne pathogens in the community.…”

“…At present about 70% of the milk is marketed and 30% consumed by the farming households. Between 10-20% of the marketed milk is processed, while 70% is marketed raw (Ssajjakambwe et al 2017). The informal marketing system trades in raw milk, disregarding the international standards of quality, pasteurization and use of cold-chain facilities (Omore and Baker 2011).…”

“…The use of antibiotics in cattle production among the pastoralists (Ssajjakambwe et al 2017;Ampaire et al 2016) is a leading cause of antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens from cattle in Uganda (Ampaire et al 2016;Oliver et al 2011). Often, the prolonged use of antibiotics in udder infections exerts selection pressure which promotes resistant bacteria phenotypes (Oliver et al 2011).…”