Abstract
The study was undertaken to determine the aetiology and prevalence of mastitis in hand-milked cows (n = 186) in two major Ethiopian dairies. The California Mastitis Test and culturing for bacteria revealed that 21.5% of the cows were clinically infected and 38.2% had subclinical mastitis. Most mastitis pathogens isolated from milk samples testing positive by the California Mastitis Test were Gram-positive cocci. Staphylococci constituted 57% of the isolates, of which the predominant cause of bovine mastitis was Staphylococcus aureus (40.5%). Other mastitis pathogens isolated include streptococci (16.5%), coliforms (9%) and corynebacteria (5%). Retrospective analysis of farm records indicated that mastitis was the second most important cause of culling and accounted for 27% of the cows removed from these two dairies.
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Workineh, S., Bayleyegn, M., Mekonnen, H. et al. Prevalence and Aetiology of Mastitis in Cows from Two Major Ethiopian Dairies. Tropical Animal Health and Production 34, 19–25 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013729626377
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013729626377