Bovine mastitis is the most prevalent infectious disease in dairy cattle and its clinical form is one of the major challenges for the dairy livestock farming. The main losses caused by clinical mastitis have been associated with drugs and treatment costs, milk discard, reduction of milk production, early culling of lactating cows, and increased labor. Clinical mastitis can be caused by a wide variety of microorganisms, which may have different pathogenicity. The symptoms of clinical mastitis can varyfrom mild changes in milk characteristics to systemic involvement and consequent risk of death of the affected cow (Roberson, 2012). The severity of clinical mastitis may be associated with factors such as cows' immunity and the causative pathogen. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the association of etiological profile of clinical mastitis and the respective severity in Brazilian dairy herds.
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