Is Mastitis Painful and is Therapy for Pain Beneficial?

摘要

Mastitis is a commonly occurring, and economically important, disease on dairy farms. It has been deemed the most costly infectious disease of cattle, due to treatment expenses, milk losses and the potential long-term damage to the mammary gland as aresult of inflammation (Fetrow et al., 2000). In Britain, mastitis is documented to be the leading cause of premature culling in dairy cattle (Milne, 2005). Furthermore, it is estimated that 50% of lactating dairy cows have an intramammary infection, atleast once each year, in at least one mammary quarter (Hillerton and Berry, 2005). With this background, it is understandable that intensive research has been conducted over several decades on me clinical, physiological, immunological and molecular changes associated with intramammary infection. As such, our understanding of the biology and epidemiology of mastitis in dairy cattle has increased exponentially.