The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of STP-99 laser irradiation applied locally to inflamed cow udders on the efficacy of clinical mastitis treatment with either intramammary infusions of antibiotic products or systemic injections of antibiotics. Examinations were carried out on 124 milking dairy cows suffering from clinical, bacterial mastitis. Cows with signs of local acute inflammation were treated with approved intramammary antibiotic products at labeled doses as control. The exposed cows received the same antibiotic treatment but were also subjected to irradiation of the inflamed udders with a laser for 5 consecutive days (2 minutes a day). Cows with local and systemic signs of mastitis were treated with either intramuscular injections of approved antibiotics in label doses alone (controls), or with the same intramuscular treatment protocol and laser irradiation of inflamed glands for 5 consecutive days (2 minutes a day). The recovery rate after intramammary treatment with antibiotics was 43.7%. Irradiation with laser significantly (P < 0.05%) increased the recovery rate by 31.2%. The recovery rate in the cow cohort receiving systemic treatment with antibiotics was 46.7%. The laser irradiation resulted in a 16.6% increase in recovery. Supportive treatment with laser irradiation increased recovery rates by 24.2%.

The aim of the study was to compare the efficiency of low-intensity laser (LIL) irradiation, antibiotic injections and a combination of both methods in the prophylaxis and treatment of metritis in cows. Examinations were carried out on 290 freshly calved cows with a rectal temperature on the second day after parturition above 38.9 degrees C. Cows from group I (n = 95) were given an intramuscular injection of ceftiofur hydrochloride (600 mg) for three days, commenced from the second day after parturition. Group II consisted of 55 cows, the sacroiliac area of which was irradiated for 10 days consecutively with LIL. Group III (n = 65) were given an intramuscular 600mg injection of ceftiofur for three days and the sacroiliac area was irradiated 10 times consecutively, once a day with LIL. The control group IV (n = 55) were not given antibiotics or laser irradiation. A number of cows, ranging from 57.1% (group III a) to 65% (group IV), developed clinical metritis, which was treated with antiseptics. The longest recovery time from metritis (21 +/- 6.12 d) was found in the IV group. Cows from group III recovered from metritis 11.5 days more quickly than the cows from the IV (negative control) group (P<0.05) and 4 days more quickly than cows from the I (positive control) group. Fertility indices such as: calving-first insemination, service period, conception rate, insemination index and the calving-pregnancy period, were better in cows treated prophylactically with the combined method (antibiotic and LIL physiotherapy) in comparison to the other groups.

Abstract The aim of the study was to find the relationship between some postpartum disorders and pregnancy losses (PL), and the influence of PL on further fertility of Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. The 1,056 pregnancies and 906 calving intervals (CI) of 378 cows during the nine-year observation period were analysed. The average milk yield during this period increased from 7,500 to 10,500 kg/305 d of lactation. All cows up to 4 weeks after calving were gynecologically examined and cases of genital tract disorders were recorded and treated. Artificial inseminations (AI) were made using commercial frozen/thawed semen. In cows with silent ovulation, oestrus was induced by injection of PGF2α or programmes using PGF2α and GnRH, or hCG were applied. Pregnancy was diagnosed with the use of ultrasonography or foetal membrane slip only from 30 and 42 d after service, respectively, and re-diagnosed between 70 and 90 d after AI. The cases of „early foetal loss” up to 90 d and „mid-to-late PL” between 91 and 260 d after AI were recorded. Endometritis was noted in 31.8%, ovarian cysts in 8.5%, whereas ovarian inactivity in 4.6% of cows. Early PL was observed in 5.2%, whereas mid-to-late PL in 6.8% of cows (total 12%). From all analysed factors, the influence of delayed or periodical lack of ovarian activity was significant with regard to early PL (P=0.029). The probability of early PL increased when besides the diagnosis of ovarian inactivity, AI was made following an induced oestrus (P=0.003). CI for cows, which did not lost pregnancy amounted 442.9 d. The early, mid-to-late and multiple PL extended the CI to 579.6, 661.1 and 657.7 d, respectively (P<0.05). Concurrently, CI for cows with “early foetal loss” was significantly shorter comparing to cows with “mid-to-late foetal loss” (579.6 d vs.661.1 d; P<0.05). On average 2.6 inseminations for one pregnancy were needed, and each PL increased the AI index. Significant differences were stated after early and multiple foetal losses (5.2 and 5.1 vs. 2.6; P<0.05).

Abstract The isolates of Staphylococcus aureus strains were examined phenotypically by cultural features, tube coagulase test and clumping factor (CF), and genotypically by conventional PCR. The strains had positive reaction in CF test, but were negative in tube coagulase test. The analysed strains from the same cows in each year expressed also nuc and coa genes. About 25% of the strains were examined by the disc diffusion method for their sensitivity to antibiotics. During three years, the strains were highly susceptible in vitro to amoxicillin with clavulanic acid, oxacillin, bacitracin, and cefoperazone (more than 90%), and highly resistant to tetracycline, neomycin, and streptomycin. Forty randomly chosen strains, and eight strains from the same cows in each year were analysed for minimal inhibitory concentration of penicillin G using microdilution method. An increasing resistance to the penicillin was noted. Moreover, eight strains, the same in each year, were also examined for β-lactamase production and methicillin resistance. No β-lactamase producers and no methicillin resistant strains were found using phenotypic and genotypic methods. In conclusion, it can be stated that antimicrobial susceptibility can change from one year to another.

OBJECTIVESBovine mammary protothecosis is a serious pathology that entails high economic losses in the dairy industry. The disease, the frequency of which has recently been increasing worldwide, is caused by unicellular, achlorophyllous, yeast-like algae of two species: Prototheca zopfii and Prototheca blaschkeae. The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro activity of a panel of conventional antifungal drugs against Prototheca spp. isolates.METHODSA total of 144 P. zopfii genotype 2 and P. blaschkeae strains isolated from milk of mastitic cows were subjected to drug susceptibility testing by Etest methodology.RESULTSFive out of ten antifungal drugs tested exhibited no activity against Prototheca spp. isolates. The best activity against Prototheca spp. was demonstrated by amphotericin B (MIC₉₀ of 1.5 mg/L). The MICs differed significantly (P < 0.01) between P. zopfii genotype 2 and P. blaschkeae, with the latter species being more susceptible to amphotericin B and azoles. Marked differences (P < 0.05) in azole and amphotericin B activities were noted among Prototheca spp. isolates originating from different European countries. Based on the correlation coefficients, a considerable cross-interaction was found among MICs of azoles and between MICs of azoles and amphotericin B for Prototheca spp. (P < 0.03).CONCLUSIONSThis study represents the largest, cross-European evaluation of antifungal activity against Prototheca spp. to date. The activity of amphotericin B against Prototheca spp. validates its potential use as a therapeutic agent against bovine protothecosis. For laboratory testing of drug activity against Prototheca spp., the Etest method is encouraged, due to its technical simplicity, rapidity and high intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of duration and temperature of sample storage on whole blood chemiluminescence measurement results. Venous blood from 18 clinically healthy Polish half-bred horses aged 4 to 11 years were used in the study. Luminol dependent chemiluminescence (CL) was used to measure neutrophil oxygen metabolism in whole blood. Blood samples were examined for spontaneous CL and stimulated by a surface receptor stimulus as well as extra-receptor stimulus. The assay was performed in two parallel experimental sets with samples stored at 4 and 22 °C, respectively. Whole blood CL was estimated at 2, 6, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h after collection. The study demonstrated that temperature and duration of sample storage are factors that determine the quality of CL measurements of whole blood in horses. The study concluded that samples should be stored at 4 °C and the assay should be performed as early as possible. It was also shown that the viability period of horse blood for CL assays is relatively long. Material stored at room temperature for 24 h and even up to 48 h at 4 °C did not show any significant decrease in spontaneous or stimulated chemiluminescence.

The aim of the study was to establish the in vitro sensitivity of S. agalactiae (126 strains), S. dysgalactiae (82 strains), S. uberis (419 strains), and Enterococcus sp. (136 strains) isolated from mastitis in cows to 13 antibiotics. Bacteriological examinations of quarter milk samples were conducted with the recommendations of the IDF. Sensitivity to antibiotics was tested by disk diffusion method in Mueller-Hinton agar and performed according to CLSI guidelines. It was found that S. agalactiae strains were the most sensitive to bacitracin (97.6%), cefapirin (96.3%), and amoxicillin (93.7%), and resistant to neomycin (89.7%), tetracycline (49.2%), and cloxacillin (38.9%). S. dysgalactiae showed the highest sensitivity to bacitracin (100%), cefapirin (100%), amoxicillin (97.6%), cephalexin (.97.6%), cefoperazone (93.9%), and resistance to neomycin (61.0%) and tetracycline (53.7%). S. uberis strains were mainly sensitive to cefapirin (98.9%), bacitracin (98.8%), cefquinome (97.6%), amoxicillin (97.4%) and resistant to neomycin (93.3%), tetracycline (35.3%) and lincomycin (22.4%). Enterococcus sp. showed the high sensitivity to amoxicillin (83.8%) and bacitracin (82.4%), and resistance to cloxacillin (76.5%), cephalexin (58.1%), lincomycin (55.9%), neomycin (53.7%), penicillin (48.5%), and tetracycline (36.0%). In conclusion, strains of S. dysgalactiae were more sensitive to tested antibiotics than S. agalactiae S. uberis, and especially Enterococcus sp. Only 8.8% of S. agalactiae, 4.3% of S. dysgalactiae, 4.3% of S. uberis, and 4.4% of Enterococcus sp. strains were sensitive to all tested antibiotics. The largest diversity in the resistance was found in Enterococcus sp.

The aim of the study was to characterize the health status and occurrence of pathological changes in mammary glands as well as to isolate etiological agents of mastitis in different herds. A single clinical examination of the udders of 3673 cows and bacteriological examination of 13,778 aseptically collected quarter milk samples were performed in 32 farms. Clinical forms of mastitis were found in 1.9% to 6.5% of quarters. Subclinical forms of mastitis ranged from 27.7 to 43.4%. Different degrees of damage to the teat end and teat canal were observed in 1.2 to 4.4% of quarters examined. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from milk in 13.0% of samples, coagulase-negative staphylococci in 18.9%, environmental streptococci in 3.2%, Str.agalactiae in 0.3% and Str. dysgalactiae in 0.5%. In conclusion it can be stated that clinical and subclinical forms of udder inflammations are still a serious problem in some farms in Poland. in bigger farms the most important problem are infections caused by Staphylococcus spp. Environmental streptococci (mostly Str. uberis) and CNS dominate in smaller farms. Interesting is the low percentage of Str.agalactiae regardless of the size of the farm.

Bovine mastitis caused by the yeast-like alga Prototheca zopfii represents a serious veterinary problem and may result in heavy economic losses to particular dairy farms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the survival of 50 isolates of P. zopfii in milk subjected to different heat treatments and the survival of further 106 P. zopfii isolates after exposure to three classes of teat disinfectants: iodine (Dipal), quaternary ammonium compounds (Teat), and dodecylbenzenesulphonic acid (Blu-gard). Of the 50 isolates tested for thermal tolerance, 29 (58%) survived heat treatment at 62°C for 30 s and 13 (26% of all isolates) of those survived after heat treatment at 72°C for 15 s. None of the 106 isolates were able to withstand the in-use concentrations of the three disinfectants tested. The highest disinfectant concentrations that permitted survival of at least one isolate were dilutions: 1:1,000 for Dipal (survival rate of 52.8–57.5%), 1:100 for Teat (88.7–90.6%), and 1:10 for Blu-gard (100%). No differences in the survival rates of P. zopfii were observed with respect to the duration of exposure to disinfectant. The results of this study support the previous findings that P. zopfii may resist high-temperature treatments, including that applied in the high-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurization process. The obtained data also demonstrate the efficacy of the three classes of teat disinfectants against P. zopfii, with the efficacy of iodine being most pronounced. The study emphasizes the necessity of using higher temperatures in the pasteurization of raw milk to kill the Prototheca algae, as well as the particular suitability of the iodine for the control procedures of protothecal mastitis.