Mastitis in Small Ruminants

Excellent article and while penned in June 2013, the number of sheep & goat cheeses marketed for the holidays gives one pause to consider quality assurance of homemade products. Thank YOU!

Hi A lot of effort has been put in this article and gives good information on the prevalent causes and control measures of mastitis in small ruminants. Here we would like to present the results of our investigations into the cause and management of mastitis in dairy animals. The synthesis of milk in almost all the dairy animals is remarkably similar except some minor variations in its composition.The last phase of reproductive cycle is lactation and Citrate has been dubbed as the "harbinger of lactogenesis". The main functions of citrate in udder are maintenance of pH of milk, sequestration of Ca2+ and preserve the fluidity of milk. Citrate regulates the milk pH by equilibrating Ca2+ and H+ in the udder. Whenever there is defective synthesis of citrate i.e., low in udder everything goes haywire. The Ca2+ clump together and form flakes which mock lime and injures the secretory epithelium resulting in swelling(Mastitis) of the affected quarter(s). Due to swelling the "tight junctions" between secretory epithelium in udder become compromised and leaky. There occurs swapping of ions like Na, Cl, K,Hco3 and citrate. The normal pH (~6.50)of milk goes up (7.0 or more). Lesion inflicted by Ca+flakes and alkaline pH, these conditions become most conducive for the invasion by environmental pathogens like Staph, Strept, Escherchia etc. Due to infection in the udder the body defenses are mobilized resulting in passage of primarily neutrophils(PML),cytokines and an inflammatory reaction is set-up. This is how the initial injury by Calcium flakes become infectious mastitis by subsequent cascade of events. As the author says that 35-50% of mastitis cases are without any pathogens but in the same breath comments that " the best strategy is to assume that the udder remains infected". However, our investigations unveil the basic cause of mastitis as to be defective metabolism (synthesis) of citrate rather than infectious. Infections do occur but the initial lesion by calcium flakes and alkaline pH in udder is a prerequisit(rather obligatory) for environmental organisms to establish otherwise such pathogens can not grow and multiply in the acidic (~6.50 pH) environments. Diagnosis of Mastitis: The simple, economical and desirably reliable method is to record the pH of milk/any secretion from udder on the spot with graded pH papers and monitor the citrate content in milk randomly on herd/flock basis. Treatment of Mastitis: Replenish the deficiency of citrate with oral or I/V administration of Tri-sodium citrate and the results are spectacular after this treatment. Since citrate is the normal content of the cells the treatment is economical, safe, easy to administer, no withdrawal and culling or replacements. Moreover, there is no risk of any untoward reactions to the consumers from milk or meat of thus treated animals. K S Dhillon Ph D, Jasmer Singh Ph D