Somatic cell counts and bacteriological status in quarter foremilk samples of cows in Hesse, Germany—A longitudinal study

Abstract

Somatic cell counts (SCC) are generally used as an indicator of udder health. Currently in Germany, 100,000 cells/mL is the threshold differentiating infected and noninfected mammary glands. The aim of our study was the detailed analysis of udder health in a representative part of the dairy cow population in Hesse, Germany. Between 2000 and 2008, 615,187 quarter foremilk samples were analyzed. In addition to evaluation of distribution of SCC and prevalence of mastitis pathogens, pathogen prevalence was also calculated depending on SCC. The data indicated that 38% of all samples had SCC >100,000 cells/mL and 62% showed SCC ≤ 100,000 cells/mL; 31% of all samples revealed SCC ≤ 25,000 cells/mL. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the dominant pathogens in the Hessian quarter foremilk samples (17.17% of all samples) followed by Corynebacterium spp. (13.56%), Streptococcus uberis (8.7%), and Staphylococcus aureus (5.01%). Mastitis pathogens were detected in 83% of all samples with SCC >100,000 cells/mL. However, the prevalence of mastitis pathogens in the SCC range from 1,000 to ≤ 100,000 cells/mL was 8.5% (5.51% minor pathogens, 2.01% major pathogens, and 0.98% other pathogens). For farms producing high quality milk, exceptional hygiene management is compulsory. One of the farms randomly selected showed clearly different results from the Hessian survey. Fifteen percent more samples lay in the SCC range ≤ 100,000 cells/mL with a lower prevalence of mastitis pathogens of 1.91% (1.03% minor pathogens, 0.83% major pathogens, and 0.05% other pathogens). Based on these results, inflammatory processes can obviously be detected in mammary glands of udder quarters healthy according to the current definitions. However, we argue that such inflammation can be detected by examination of the relationship of immune cells in milk.

Subclinical mastitis in dairy cows: somatic cell counts and associated bacteria in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

“…Besides other minor pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus was still the most prevalent pathogen in clinically healthy animals and both environmental and contagious forms of mastitis may be caused by Staphylococcus aureus (Rall et al, 2013;Barkema et al, 2009). Isolation of CNS (10%) is compatible with the results reported in Netherland (10.8%), Sweeden (16%) and Germany (17.17%) (Persson et al, 2011;Schwarz et al, 2010;Sampimon et al, 2009). Although Katsande et al, (2013) and Abrahmsen et al, (2012) reported higher prevalence of CNS (28.7% and 27.6% respectively); these discrepancies may be related to changes in herd management and bacteriological ecology in the herd environment (Pitkala et al, 2004).…”

Somatic cell count and mastitis pathogen detection in composite and single or duplicate quarter milk samples

“…Different superscripts among the lines indicate P<0.05. Bansal et al 2005, Schwarz et al 2010. This decrease of the SCC limit to detect IMIs may be due to the presence of effective mastitis control programs in many developed countries, leading to a decrease in IMIs caused by major pathogens (i.e., S. agalactiae) and an increase in the proportion of IMIs caused by minor pathogens (i.e., coagulase--negative staphylococci) (Pitkälä et al 2004, Piepers et al 2007, Schwarz et al 2010.…”

“…Bansal et al 2005, Schwarz et al 2010. This decrease of the SCC limit to detect IMIs may be due to the presence of effective mastitis control programs in many developed countries, leading to a decrease in IMIs caused by major pathogens (i.e., S. agalactiae) and an increase in the proportion of IMIs caused by minor pathogens (i.e., coagulase--negative staphylococci) (Pitkälä et al 2004, Piepers et al 2007, Schwarz et al 2010. Furthermore, the quarter milk SCC-derived incidence had a more limited predictive value in herds experiencing a very high rate of IMI acquisition during a given period (Dufour & Dohoo 2013), which may have influenced our results, especially regarding the high bulk milk SCC in the herds used here, indicating that the cows are under high challenge (Barkema et al 1998).…”

Concentration of lactoferrin and immunoglobulin G in cows’ milk in relation to health status of the udder, lactation and season

“…Most of the analysed milk samples with SCC levels lower than 200,000 were positive for bacterial isolation. This observation means that some specific bacterial species could be associated with weak immune responses (Schwarz et al 2010) and it is possible that the physiological status of the mammary gland could induce a diminished immune response to bacterial invasion. Chaneton et al (2013) established that most of the samples with an SCC level higher than 200,000 were negative for bacterial isolation; their explanation for this is that an inflammation process can occur without detectable bacteria in milk.…”