mycoplasma mastitis symptoms causes transmission treatment control in cattle goats and farm animals

 Mycoplasma Mastitis

Aetiology.

Mycoplasma Bovis is the most common cause of mastitis caused by Mycoplasma spp., but up to 11 other species have been isolated from milk in various parts of the United States. Historically Mycoplasma californium has been a common isolate in California, but it has been identified in many other states, including New York. Mycoplasma spp. cause herd endemics of acute mastitis that subsequently evolve into chronic mastitis. Following acute attacks, cattle may show chronic mastitis, intermittent acute flareups, or have a subclinical infection requiring culture confirmation. Mastitis may occur in only one quarter but frequently appears in two or more quarters in each affected cow. Much of the current evidence suggests that herd outbreaks occur via horizontal transmission, most likely from asymptomatic carriers. The possibility of internal transmission to the udder from other internal organs within an asymptomatic cow also challenges the view that Mycoplasma is purely contagious from cow to cow and spread identically to other contagious causes of mastitis, such as S. aureus and S. agalactiae, which are predominantly spread during milking. M. Bovis may be found on mucous membranes and secretions from the respiratory and urogenital tracts. Infection may be introduced by a purchased animal from an infected herd or may appear spontaneously following mechanical transmission of organisms by contaminated

workers. Isolates include M. Bovis, Mycoplasma dispar, Mycoplasma bovirhinis, Mycoplasma bovigenitalium, Mycoplasma canadense, Mycoplasma alkalescent, and M. californium have been isolated from single herds. Mycoplasma populations usually are highest in calves and heifers. Clinical signs of Mycoplasma infection including respiratory disease, otitis interna/media, arthritis, or reproductive problems may or may not be obvious or reported in problem herds, but Mycoplasma spp. can be cultured from the respiratory or reproductive tract in young cattle and adults. Therefore although the purchase of infected cattle represents a risk of introduction of Mycoplasma mastitis, perhaps the greater risk is the chance of contamination transmission and spread of the organisms from infected nasal, urogenital, or joint secretions to the udder, most likely from animals without evidence of clinical disease. Following infection of one cow, the disease spreads as contagious mastitis. Fresh cows appear to be at greater risk than cows in mid-lactation. Cold, wet seasons also may increase the incidence of infection because the organisms may persist longer in the environment.

Clinical Signs.

Acute mastitis in one or more quarters of a cow is the usual history. The affected quarters are warm, swollen, and firm. Secretions are variable in appearance. Early secretions may be watery and have flakes of “sandy material,” but this is not observed in many cases. The secretion may evolve over several days to a tannish serous-like material, clots, flakes, or pus. Although acute Mycoplasma mastitis is associated with fever (103.0 to 105.5° F/39.44 to 40.83° C), affected cows may not appear ill. Some acutely infected cows may be slightly off feed, perhaps associated with fever. Milk production decreases dramatically in those with acute Mycoplasma mastitis but may not be obviously reduced in subclinical cases. Acute mastitis involving multiple quarters and swollen, painful joints occurring in several cows within a short period should alert the veterinarian to the possibility of Mycoplasma mastitis. The signs are less suggestive in chronic Mycoplasma mastitis, for which subclinical infections predominate. Intermittent acute flareups will be

present but may not be as dramatic as the signs of acute Mycoplasma, especially when the organism is first introduced into a herd. Generally, by the time a diagnosis of Mycoplasma mastitis is confirmed, at least 10% of the herd is already infected.

Arthritis, lameness, reproductive problems, calf pneumonia and/or otitis interna/media, and adult cow respiratory diseases may be other owner complaints when procuring a history in herds with Mycoplasma mastitis. These other diseases may or may not be associated with Mycoplasma spp. Frequently the existence of multiple health problems more likely indicates management deficiencies and overcrowding of cattle. Increased incidence of Mycoplasma respiratory disease and arthritis has been confirmed in several herds that were monitored for several years because of Mycoplasma mastitis. The fact that occasional outbreaks of Mycoplasma sp. mastitis occur in the absence of new purchases and herd additions reinforces the view that some cattle can remain asymptomatic carriers for extended periods. The introduction of bred heifers, reared off the farm or purchased commercially, appears to be a particularly common antecedent event to acute herd outbreaks of Mycoplasma mastitis.

Diagnosis.

A definitive diagnosis of Mycoplasma mastitis requires isolation from milk. Most Mycoplasma will not grow on culture media that is routinely used to identify bacterial pathogens. Therefore Mycoplasma mastitis should be suspected when obvious mastitis is present, bacterial culture yields negative results, and antibiotic treatment has failed to improve the signs. Special media such as Hayflick’s medium incubated at 37.0° C and kept in 10% CO2 are necessary for the culture of Mycoplasma sp. Mycoplasma is shed in great quantities in milk, and consequently, the culture of bulk tank milk may be used as a sensitive method for early identification of infection in a few cattle. Following the growth of Mycoplasma sp., speciation is indicated and requires an indirect immunoperoxidase assay or fluorescent antibody (FA) technique performed by a competent laboratory. Mycoplasma may be grown following the freezing of milk. Identification of specific species may assist an epidemiologic investigation of predisposing factors that contributed to the Mycoplasma mastitis problem. In addition, one saprophytic organism, Acholeplasma laidlawii, is a fairly common contaminant of tank milk and should not be thought of as a cause of mastitis.

Treatment.

Approved antibiotics are ineffective against Mycoplasma mastitis. Macrolide and tetracycline antibiotics that are used to treat Mycoplasma infection in other organ systems have not been successful against Mycoplasma mastitis. Fluoroquinolones are legal in Europe for mastitis treatment and would be the preferred treatment. It is not legal to use fluoroquinolones in dairy cattle in North America. Because of the lack of therapeutic options, culling all infected cattle should be considered. Cows that continue to have clinical mastitis and agalactia are easier for an owner to cull than cows that apparently recover and continue to produce milk. Because of the high number of cattle that are affected initially, culling of as many as 10% or more of a herd may be required. This is seldom acceptable to an owner. Lag times between collection of milk samples and positive identification of infected cattle following milk culture allow new infections to occur.

Therefore when more cows become positive based on follow-up cultures, the owner becomes discouraged, having already culled “all” positive cows based on initial culture. Owner compliance with culling is much more likely if only a few cows are infected. Segregation of infected and noninfected cattle has been practised in California and other states when large numbers of cattle are infected and owners are unwilling or economically unable to cull all infected cattle.

Control.

The goal of Mycoplasma control is the identification of infected animals and their isolation and segregation from uninfected herdmates. Once Mycoplasma

has been identified in a herd, quarter samples from all cows should be submitted for culture, all cows should be dipped with 1% iodine dips after milking, milking claws and teat cups should be rinsed with 30 to 75 ppm iodine and sanitized or backflushed with the same solution between cows, and all milking procedures should be evaluated carefully Following results of the quarter cultures, infected cattle should be culled or segregated from the non-infected herd mates. Cultures should be collected from all quarters of the remaining cows monthly, and new positives should be identified and culled. After herd cultures are negative, milk filters should be cultured monthly, and aggressive quarter culturing and culling programs should be reinitiated if Mycoplasma is reisolated. Ideally, infected milk should not be fed to calves, but pasteurization has become an attractive option for some larger dairies. There are differences in the thermal resistance patterns of different Mycoplasma species, so when waste milk is pasteurized before feeding to calves, periodic quality control checks of pasteurization equipment are critical. Submitting pasteurized milk samples as fed to calves for routine bulk tank testing, to include specific Mycoplasma culture, is an important part of the preventative calf health program for those larger dairies that pasteurize waste milk. Infected cows may recover from acute infections and become productive, but others develop chronic mastitis or lameness. The frequency of long-term carriers and shedding from the milk of recovered cattle is unknown. Infection with one species of Mycoplasma does not confer

immunity against other species. In addition, active immunity to a single species is likely to be short-lived. One report concerning M. Bovis showed that cattle that recovered from Mycoplasma mastitis were resistant to reinfection in all quarters for 55 days and were resistant in previously infected quarters for 180 days, but they became susceptible to reinfection in all quarters by 1 year following initial recovery. A vaccine for M. Bovis is commercially available, both as a licensed product and produced on a custom basis; however, the efficacies of the products are not well established. Further use in field settings will determine the eventual usefulness for control of the infection in cattle. The wide variation in antigenicity between different

species and strains of Mycoplasma do not bode well for cross-protection against all of the currently encountered Mycoplasma spp. for the prevention of mastitis, arthritis, or respiratory disease.

keywords:

mycoplasma mastitis symptoms in cattle

mycoplasma mastitis treatment

mycoplasma mastitis treatment in cattle

mycoplasma mastitis in goats

mycoplasma mastitis causes transmission and control

mycoplasma bovis mastitis treatment

mycoplasma californicum mastitis

mycoplasma alkalescent mastitis

mycoplasma mastitis in cattle

mycoplasma arginine mastitis

mycoplasma mastitis a review of transmission and control

mycoplasma bovis mastitis

mycoplasma bovis mastitis dairy

mycoplasma bovis mastitis tratamiento

mycoplasma in broiler

mycoplasma gallisepticum in poultry

mycoplasma mastitis cattle

mycoplasma mastitis in cows treatment

mycoplasma in poultry symptoms

mycoplasma mastitis in dairy cows

micoplasma de mastitis

mycoplasma en mastitis

mycoplasma h

mycoplasma. hominins

identification of mycoplasma

mycoplasma synoviae in poultry

mycoplasma osteomyelitis

mastitis for mycoplasma

mastitis for Mycoplasma Bovis

mycoplasma spp mastitis

mycoplasma unicellular

mastitis ultrasound findings

mycoplasma Uri

mycoplasma usmle

mastitis vaccine in Pakistan

mycoplasma Zithromax