Study on Prevalence of Subclinical Mastitis in Bovines and Characterization of Associated Staphylococcus Aureus Isolates in Western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh to know the prevalence of subclinical mastitis and associated Staphylococcus aureus in 6 districts of Western Uttar Pradesh viz., Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr and Bijnor. The screening of samples by SCC revealed that out of 876 quarter milk samples collected from 281 bovines, 206 (23.52%) quarters and 108 (38.43%) bovines were positive for subclinical mastitis. In simultaneous screening, 102 (36.30%) and 94 (33.45%) bovines tested positive for subclinical mastitis by CMT and WST, respectively. Overall quarter-wise prevalence was found to be 23.17% and 19.63% by CMT and WST, respectively. Record of the data pertaining to quarters showed that prevalence was higher in hind quarters as compared with forequarters also it was observed that among positive animals most were having only single quarter infection. Results revealed that out of 876 samples, 36 (12.81%) were found to harbour Staphylococcus aureus as confirmed by PCR. All the isolates were 100% susceptible to imipenem followed by vancomycin (94.441), ciprofloxacin (91.66 %) and ampicillin (16.66%) is the least effective drug against S. aureus. The present study shows the significant prevalence of subclinical mastitis in Western Uttar Pradesh, with variations among districts and Staphylococcus aureus is highly associated with subclinical mastitis. Also, it alarms us regarding the way microbes are getting resistant to the presently used antibiotics and raises a need to take effective steps to counter antimicrobial resistance.