Efficacy evaluation of topical herbal spray in subclinical Mastitis

In my experience to deal with sub clinical mastitis herbal medicine and spray were never found effective rather it delayed and made the situation worse. My experience in use of herbal medicines is only limited to my country where many brands with tall claims are available in medical stores. However, this paper looks having reasons to believe as the trials are done scientifically and the herbal materials used and cited here have long history of being used against inflammation in human beings. I feel these trials must continue to exploit maximum potential of naturally available herbs locally and wish the authors all the best.

Thanks for your valuable comments Dr. Balakrishnan and Dr. Rajeshwaran. Mr. Hafiz in India, herbs were used since long with practically proven efficacy. This particular product " Mastilap" is one of the most trusted herbal solutions we are producing. Not one but active ingredients of many herbs are combined or formulated in a way to get synergistic effect in case of mastitis. As we know mastitis is inflammation of udder with variable etiology. AS Dr. Balakrishnan was also saying that subclinical mastitis is the main reason for economic losses of many farms. Mastitis is visible and farmers only consider the animal to be sick, those who are showing clinical symptoms like swollen, red udder and curd-like milk. But subclinical mastitis in a hidden way causes huge reduce in milk production and economic loss. Mastilap is providing relief to animal from udder pain and swelling and a protective covering to udder from the mastitis causing micro-organisms.

Quality is the challenge in the herbal medicines/ products. We are mostly focusing on the quality and not compromised with the price that's the reason all the herbal products of Ayurvet show better efficacy. In case of mastitis as we know sub-clinical mastitis is of great concern because farmers can only see the outer manifestation of disease in form of clinical signs. Mastilep woks better for preventing mastitis and converting subclinical mastitis to chronic mastitis. we are also providing a kit for the detection of subclinical mastitis which is based on the pH of the milk.
Dr. Balakrishnan sir, Mastilep also contains five important herbs along with antifungal element. As I mentioned it all the herbs are having mainly anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiseptic, and analgesic property which not only prevents the entry of the microbes form the teat but also boost the immunity of the teat. The efficacy of Mastilep is proven and is very much famous among the farmers of India.

As mastitis can be of multi-focal origin, addressing route cause can differ among herds. In my opinion, multi-station studies are required to prove the efficacy of any product. Moreover, DIM (Days In Milk) can hugely influence SCC, selection of animals at their late, early or end-of-mid lactation phase can show slightly high somatic cell count (which is absolutely normal) and can be confused with sub-clinical mastitis. I hope more studies are about to come.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

Dr. Nikhil You are very much right, SSC count is slightly high in the very early and late lactation period. Actually, maintenance of animal and its in dry period is also very important to prevent Mastitis. In most of the animals, micro-organisms enter the teat in dry period only just before the start of lactation period and animal symptoms just after commencing of lactation. So utmost care of the teat should be taken at dry period also.

Thanks for your comment.

Practical experience of field veterinarians is, If it is a subclinical mastitis case or recurrent mastitis case such animal take more inseminations to settle in pregnancy. While animal with second or third degree endometritis will have low milk yield or low fat or low Total solid not fat (SNF) and veterinarian mostly concentrates on the health of uterus. One more factor subclinical acidosis cases too take more inseminations and it has an effect on gradual drop in milk production, low fat and low SNF. To get better results field vet has to evaluate all three systems Rumen, uterus and udder. These observations are made with small dairy farmers having one to 10 animals where a farmer can be better educated to reduce the incidence of subclinical acidosis, subclinical mastitis (gradual drop in milk yield, low SNF) endometritis.

All drugs are chemical in nature made up of atoms with their subatomic particles and energy hidden in them. So any drug can act at one or more levels when we use with animals or human beings. When a drug is used as a spray the rate of penetration of the drug through skin in to lymphatic system or blood steam and in turn the response may be seen.

Is there any herbal product for dry cow therapy? Those animals have very high somatic cell count at dry up should be treated and teat sealant should be applied. There is a need of development of herbal biodegradable sealant for normal as well as high somatic count animal in combination or alone. This is the way to reduce incidences in subclinical mastitis. We are not working on products or beddings keeping the cow resting area dry. Any product and method will make this area dry throughout the day will reduce the incidences.

We have recently developed dry cow formulation which acts as a sealant and is very effective without any antibacterial agent. The formulation is biodegradable. The seal has been found to prevent entry of any bacteria from the floor environment.

Another formulation which we have recently developed and now available in the market is a barrier-type teat dip. The principle here is that in India cows and buffaloes are fed at the time of milking and hence these tend to sit on floor after milking. Thirty to forty minutes post-milking is the high-risk period for entry of bacteria in teat canal. Usual teat dips are water soluble hence not of much use. Our formulation named Novadip forms a barrier film across the teat sphincter. The in vitro studies of the formulation and compared with global leader product in this category proved that our formulation offers a perfect barrier to entry of gram-negative or gram-positive bacteria. It does allow aeration so danger of anaerobic bacterial growth is not possible. Clinical trials carried out in the largest South Indian dairy on a number of animals have shown significant reduction in milk somatic cell count. Novadip has no antibacterial agent but we catalyze polymerization such that the pore size is less than 0.22 micron (proved on SEM studies).

Regarding herbal formulation for mastitis, one can explain rational when the formulation is injected intra-mammary. But the claim that application of herb will treat mastitis is far-fetched and need to be proved by demonstrating that the active agent has crossed skin barrier which is highly unlikely. Researchers have been struggling to deliver drug through human skin and the success of delivery is less than 1%. Problem with herbal preparations is that they hide behind multi-herb constraint. They ought to show at least one largest herb ingredient delivered to the infection site. It is also a myth that oral herbs are active when given orally in ruminant. These manufacturers at least should prove that the herb remains unharmed in the rumen when we know that plant ingredients are broken down due to bacterial fermentation. I will be happy to change my views if someone can provide scientific evidence.

Specific treatment is already available for SCM. Preventive steps have to be carried out by animal owners like teat dipping, teat sprays.
What is to be tackled is clinical cases with herbal products. We need specific preparations for clinical cases.

I am yet to get a response on evidence that when applied externally to udder the active ingredient is reaching the infection site. Anecdotal evidence is a good point to start but not sufficient to prove scientifically. Clinical trials must be placebo-control and double blind, else for a disease like mastitis which is multi-factorial merely proving that SCC count decreased is not sufficient. Does herbal active ingredients cross cell membrane barrier to take care of intra-cellular infection in mammary epithelial cells? Let there be sharing of scientific evidence and not merely someone has treated and found the formulation effective.

Allow the calf to suckle or spray or dip the teats after milking and allow the animal to eat fodder which prevents the animal from lying down at least for half an hour, This can be the best method to prevent a lot of new infections. The manufacturers of teat dips or teat spray should add this information in the directions part on the packing.

If the hygiene of the shed is bad even 20 grams of encapsulated sodium citrate per day for 10 days also could not eliminate subclinical or clinical mastitis cases in the field conditions.

Mastitis is not well understood. Mastitis develops only when there is break in continuity of endothelium of blood vessels supplying blood to milk glands. Bac attack at the site of bruised or lacerated endothelium due to oxalates and other biochemical produces.
There are millions of bac in buccal cavity, eye orbits or even intestine but infection develops only when there is break in continuity in epithelium.
We must think on this line and maintain udder immunity by feeding biotin 20mg per day.
Blood assay suggests the direction of correction of biochemical changes.
I am finding excellent response in controlling mastitis and complementary too.