The bacterial flora of the udder of goats


Published: Jan 29, 2018
Keywords:
bacterial flora goats mammary defence mastitis milk sheep teat
A. TZORA
J. SKOUFOS
A. TSINAS
K. FOTOU
A. KARAMOUTSIOS
Z. KALYVA
K. NIKOLAOU
G. C. FTHENAKIS
Abstract

Aims of the study were to identify microbial flora in healthy caprine udders and to evaluate possible sources of principal caprine mastitis pathogens. Samples of teat duct material and mammary secretion from goats in two farms (flock A, polyparous n=30; flock B, polyparous n=60) were collected from both glands, four times during the lactation period. Subsequently, bacteriological investigation took place from 200 udders of slaughtered goats (n=100). Mammary gland skin swabs were examined bacteriologically from one farm (flock C, polyparous n=60) four times, one before and three during the lactation period. In all milk samples, cytological examinations were negative. Conventional bacteriological techniques were used. Bacterial contamination was found in 93% of samples from the skin of the teat, in 44% of teat duct scraping samples, in 6% of teat duct material samples and in 4% of mammary secretion samples. Different bacterial species were isolated, mainly coagulase negative staphylococci. This investigation showed smaller proportion of contamination in the teat canal than in the outer surface of the teat skin, indicating that teat provides innate defensive systems against bacterial invasions.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Review Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Anderson DE, Hull BL, Pugh DG (2002) Diseases of the mammary gland. In: (ed.: Pugh DG) Sheep and Goat Medicine. Saunders, Philadelphia, pp. 341-358.
Contreras A, Sierra D, Sánchez A, Corrales JC, Marco JC, Paape MJ, Gonzalo C (2007) Mastitis in small ruminants. Small Rumin. Res. 68, 145-153.
Cowan ST (1974) Cowan and Steel’s Manual for the Identification of Medical Bacteria, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Cullen GA, Hebert CN (1967) Some ecological observations on micro-organisms inhabiting bovine skin, teat canals and milk. Br. Vet. J. 123, 14–25.
Edwards SJ, Jones GW (1966) The distribution and characters of coagulase-negative staphylococci of the bovine udder. J. Dairy Res. 33, 261-270.
Fragkou IA, Gougoulis DA, Billinis C, Mavrogianni VS, Bushnell MJ, Cripps PJ, Tzora A, Fthenakis GC (2011) Transmission of Mannheimia haemolytica from the tonsils of lambs to the teat of ewes during sucking. Vet. Microbiol. 148, 66-74.
Fthenakis GC (1995) California Mastitis Test and Whiteside Test in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis of dairy ewes. Small Rumin. Res. 16, 271-276.
Gavin A, Ostovar K (1977) Microbiological characterization of human milk. J. Food Prot. 40, 614-616.
Jakeen El-Jakee K, Noha Aref E, Gomaa A, Mahmoud El-Hariri D, Hussein Galal M, Sherif Omar A, Samir A (2013) Emerging of coagulase negative staphylococci as a cause of mastitis in dairy animals. Int. J. Vet. Sci. Med. 1, 74-78.
Jones JET (1971) Reflections on post-parturient diseases associated with lactational failure in sows. Vet. Rec. 89, 72-77.
Kemper N, Preissler R (2011) Bacterial flora on the mammary gland skin of sows and in their colostrum. J. Swine Health Prod. 19, 112–115.
Lee SHI, Camargo CH, Gonçalves JL, Cruz AG, Sartori BT, Machado MB, Oliveira CAF (2012) Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus isolates in milk and the milking environment from small-scale dairy farms of São Paulo, Brazil, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. J. Dairy Sci. 95,7377–7383.
Mavrogianni VS, Cripps PJ, Fthenakis GC (2006a) Description and validation of a novel technique to study the bacterial flora of the teat duct of ewes. Small Rumin. Res. 66, 258-264.
Mavrogianni VS, Cripps PJ, Papaioannou N, Taitzoglou I, Fthenakis GC (2006b) Teat disorders predispose ewes to clinical mastitis after challenge with Mannheimia haemolytica. Vet. Res. 37, 89-105.
Mavrogianni VS, Cripps PJ, Fthenakis GC (2007b) Bacterial flora and risk of infection of the ovine teat duct and mammary gland throughout lactation. Prev. Vet. Med. 79, 163-173.
Mavrogianni VS, Fthenakis GC, Brooks H, Papaioannou N, Cripps PJ, Taitzoglou I, Brellou G, Saratsis P (2005) The effects of inoculation of Mannheimia haemolytica into the teat of lactating ewes. Vet. Res. 36, 13–25.
Quigley L, O Sullivan O, Stanton C, Beresford TM, Paul Ross R, Fitzgerald GF, Cotter PD (2013) The complex microbiota of raw milk. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 37, 664–698.
Rosengren A, Fabricius A, Guss B, Sylvén S, Lindqvist R (2010) Occurence of food-borne pathogens and characterizations of S. aureus in cheese produced in farm-dairies. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 144, 263–269.
Tzora A, Skoufos I, Arsenos G, Giannenas I, Voidarou C, Fotou K, Kalyva Z, Fthenakis CG (2014) Etiology of subclinical mastitis in primiparous goats reared in the region of Epirus, Greece. Proceedings of the 65th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Animal Production (Copenhagen, Denmark), p. 313.
West PA, Hewitt JH, Murphy OM (1979) The influence of methods of collection and storage on the bacteriology of human milk. J. Applied Bacteriol. 46, 269–277.
Zadoks RN, Van Leeuwenand WB, Van Belkum A (2002) Comparison of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from bovine and human skin, milking equipment, and bovine milk by phage typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and binary typing. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40, 3894-3898.
Most read articles by the same author(s)