TY - JOUR

T1 - Lactational treatment of bovine mastitis

T2 - Development over time and factors influencing cytological cure

AU - Wilm, Jensine

AU - Krömker, Volker

AU - Kirkeby, Carsten

AU - Gussmann, Maya

N1 - Funding Information: This study has been part of the ACROBAT (Reduced use of AntimiCROBials in cAttle and poulTry) project funded by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. We thank Søren Saxmose Nielsen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and SEGES (Aarhus, Denmark) for providing the data. Handling of the data has been approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (case no. 514-0696/22-3000). The authors have not stated any conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 American Dairy Science Association

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Lactational treatment of bovine mastitis is a major contributor to antibiotic consumption in dairy cattle and is, therefore, important to address in light of the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. In this large-scale database-based retrospective observational study, we combined electronic health records and routinely measured somatic cell counts from individual cows to create an overview of lactational mastitis treatment in Danish dairy herds from 2010 to 2019. Furthermore, posttreatment somatic cell count was used to approximate treatment success in terms of cytological cure. A generalized logistic regression with mixed effects was performed to combine knowledge on cow-level factors (treatment-, pathogen-, and cow-related) with the new infection risk at the herd level, and to explore the relative effect on cytological cure. The investigation revealed that the total number of lactational treatments appears to have decreased steadily over the study period, whereas treatment duration increased slightly. The proportion of cases treated with penicillin-based protocols and the proportion of milk samples sent for pathogen analysis also decreased. Meanwhile, results from the statistical analysis confirm the importance of cow-related factors, such as parity and lactation stage, for the probability of cytological cure following lactational treatment of mastitis. However, they also disclose that factors that are easier to adjust, such as optimizing treatment duration, including knowledge on causative pathogens and improving the herd-level new infection risk that can be used to positively influence the outcome. Application of this knowledge could potentially assist in promoting a more prudent use of antibiotics for dairy cattle in the future.

AB - Lactational treatment of bovine mastitis is a major contributor to antibiotic consumption in dairy cattle and is, therefore, important to address in light of the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance. In this large-scale database-based retrospective observational study, we combined electronic health records and routinely measured somatic cell counts from individual cows to create an overview of lactational mastitis treatment in Danish dairy herds from 2010 to 2019. Furthermore, posttreatment somatic cell count was used to approximate treatment success in terms of cytological cure. A generalized logistic regression with mixed effects was performed to combine knowledge on cow-level factors (treatment-, pathogen-, and cow-related) with the new infection risk at the herd level, and to explore the relative effect on cytological cure. The investigation revealed that the total number of lactational treatments appears to have decreased steadily over the study period, whereas treatment duration increased slightly. The proportion of cases treated with penicillin-based protocols and the proportion of milk samples sent for pathogen analysis also decreased. Meanwhile, results from the statistical analysis confirm the importance of cow-related factors, such as parity and lactation stage, for the probability of cytological cure following lactational treatment of mastitis. However, they also disclose that factors that are easier to adjust, such as optimizing treatment duration, including knowledge on causative pathogens and improving the herd-level new infection risk that can be used to positively influence the outcome. Application of this knowledge could potentially assist in promoting a more prudent use of antibiotics for dairy cattle in the future.

KW - antibiotic consumption

KW - dairy cattle

KW - mastitis treatment

U2 - 10.3168/jds.2022-22841

DO - 10.3168/jds.2022-22841

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37419739

AN - SCOPUS:85164568405

VL - 106

SP - 5740

EP - 5752

JO - Journal of Dairy Science

JF - Journal of Dairy Science

SN - 0022-0302

IS - 8

ER -