Epidemiological and bacteriological survey of buffalo mastitis in Nepal

A total of 355 Murrah cross buffaloes, consisting of 23 subclinical and 332 clinical mastitis cases brought to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Chitwan, Nepal from 2002 to 2005, were analyzed to determine the organisms involved, the seasonal occurrence of mastitis, and antibiotic susceptibility of mastitis pathogens. Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CNS) such as Staphylococcus albus and S. epidermidis were the predominant organisms associated with subclinical cases, and CNS and Coliforms in clinical cases. The maximum number (16%) of clinical cases of mastitis were observed in the month of July, when temperature and humidity are highest. The incidence of clinical mastitis was higher in animals during 1st calving and during the 1st month of parturition. Resistance to antibiotics was determined for 55, 23 and 149 isolates of Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. and Coliforms, respectively. In vitro drug sensitivity testing revealed that enrofloxacin had the highest average sensitivity (91%) for all types of bacteria. The effectiveness of other drugs detected were gentamicin (87%), tetracycline (83%) and chloramphenicol (82%). The antibiogram showed that both gentamicin and enrofloxacin are slowly becoming resistant. Mastitis pathogens have developed resistance to ampicillin and penicillin.