Abstract

Mastitis is an inflammatory disease of mammary gland caused by bacteria and its toxin and it is characterized by physical, chemical and microbiological changes in the milk along with pathological changes in the glandular tissues of udder. Many bacteria, fungus and viruses are responsible to cause mastitis but main causative agent is Staphylococcus aureus and its toxin. All breeds of dairy and farm animals are susceptible to mastitis but infection rate is more in successive lactation than the first lactation. Mastitis can cause decline in potassium and lactoferin which decreases casein, the major protein in milk. The presence of bacteria in the milk collected from infected dairy animal like cow and buffalo renders that milk unsuitable for human consumption and can spread throat infections, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and/or brucellosis. Treatment of mastitis is possible with long acting antibiotics but mastitis may occur after specific period of time even after treatment with long acting antibiotics and so treatment needs effective strategies.

Authors and Affiliations