Prevalence of microorganisms associated with udder infections in dairy goats on small-scale farms in Kenya : short communication

Abstract

aThis study was carried out to determine the prevalence of intra-mammary bacterial infections in healthy dairy goats in the central Kenyan highlands, where the highest density of dairy goats in Kenya occurs, in order to formulate mastitis control measures in the flocks.The investigation was carried out in 7 dairy goat farmer groups. All the does that were in different stages of lactation from all the dairy goat groups were sampled once a month for 3 months. The number of does sampled were 130 in the 1st month, 108 in the 2nd month and 77 in the 3rd month. The decrease in the number of does sampled in the 2nd and 3rd months was due to drying off of some of the does. The does were mainly German Alpine crosses with a few Toggenberg, Saanen and Galla crosses. The mammary glands of the does were examined visually for any injuries or swellings and by palpation for consistency and warmth. The first streams of milk from each mammary gland half were macroscopically examined. After discarding the first 3 streams of the fore milk, a 20 ml milk sample was collected aseptically from each mammary gland half into sterile Bijoux bottles. The milk samples were kept at 4°C until bacteriologically processed in the laboratory between 3 and 6 h after collection. In the laboratory the milk samples were streaked onto sheep blood and MacConkey agar plates and incubated aerobically at 37°C for 48 h. Significant bacterial colonies at 24 and 48 h were selected and sub-cultured for 24 h after which they were Gramstained and biochemically tested and classified according to standard methods 5 . With a few exceptions, most organisms were identified to genus level. The data were analysed using Statistix (SX v. 4.0) (Analytical Software, St Paul).Visual evaluation and palpation of the mammary gland halves and the macroscopic examination of the milk revealed no abnormalities. The prevalence of bacteria in the 630 clinically normal milk samples cultured was 28.7 % ( Table 1). The prevalence of bacteria isolated from normal caprine milk varies among studies undertaken in different countries 3 . This has been attributed to the influence of factors such as differences in the time of sampling, the diagnostic criteria used, breed differences, different hygiene and management practices followed on each farm, age and parity of the animals, and the milking method [2][3][4]11 . The goats used in this study were mainly stall-fed and were washed with warm water before being hand-milked. The does were milked twice a day, with no teat dipping after milking. Hand-milked goats have been found to have a lower prevalence of bacteria than machine-milked goats 10 . Hand milking of the does in this study may therefore have influenced the prevalence of bacteria. There were significantly (P < 0.05) more bacterial organisms isolated from the left mammary gland halves (55.8 %) than from the right mammary gland halves (44.2 %). This was similar to observations by Boscos et al. 2 , who suggested that this was possibly related to the milking process. They observed t...

Evaluation of diagnostic procedures for subclinical mastitis in meat-producing sheep

“…Isolation of Acinetobacter sp. in large numbers from sample Y146R is interesting given that Ndegwa et al (2001) isolated Acinetobacter sp. from mastitic caprine glands.…”

Diseases of the Mammary Gland

“…18,27,28 Mycoplasma Mastitis Mycoplasma mastitis frequently is suspected when signs of clinical mastitis appear but repeated bacterial cultures are negative. 18,27,28 Mycoplasma Mastitis Mycoplasma mastitis frequently is suspected when signs of clinical mastitis appear but repeated bacterial cultures are negative.…”

Potential use of Bacillus thuringiensis bacteriocins to control antibiotic-resistant bacteria associated with mastitis in dairy goats

“…Although the type of bacteria isolated from goats depends on geographical region, members of the Enterobacteriaceae, S. aureus, S. epidermidis, Staphylococcus lentus, and S. caprae are most commonly reported (Ndegwa et al 2001;Moroni et al 2005;Persson and Olofsson 2011;Chu et al 2012). Many of the bacteria isolated in this study corresponded to those previously reported.…”

“…In the present study, our primary interest was to determine whether these bacteriocins in crude samples are able to control pathogenic microorganisms associated with mastitis in dairy goats as these animals are of economical importance, not only in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, but also in other regions in the world, including Taiwan, Sweden, Italy, Kenya, and Algeria (Ndegwa et al 2001;Moroni et al 2005;Barboza-Corona et al 2007;Chu et al 2012;Bourabah et al 2013). To our knowledge, no previous reports have been published on the use of bacteriocins of B. thuringiensis to control pathogenic bacteria associated with mastitis in dairy goats.…”