DIAGNOSIS OF INTRAMAMMARY INFECTIONS BASED ON SAMPLING STRATEGY, EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PATHOGENS AND AGREEMENT BEYOND CHANCE

摘要

Diagnosis of intramammary infections (IMI) is traditionally based on microbiological culture of aseptically collected milk samples. Results from duplicate or multiple samples interpreted in series are recommended as the gold standard for IMI diagnosisby the International Dairy Federation and National Mastitis Council. An appropriate milk sampling scheme, however, depends on the nature and overall objective of a study (1). In large field studies, collection of single milk samples is often the only ormost practical option and therefore, quantification of agreement beyond chance between single and duplicate samples is of interest. The objective of the present study was to determine how well results from single samples agree with results from duplicate quarter samples, using different interpretation strategies to diagnose EVII by considering epidemiology of mastitis pathogens.