Therapeutic efficacy of Mastilep in treating subclinical mastitis of variable etiology in lactating cows.

摘要

Diagnostic tests for mastitis, and cultural examination of milk samples indicated subclinical mastitis in 75 of over 100 apparently healthy cows tested at different stages of lactation and with different lactation numbers (up to 5). A group of 10 cows with negative test results were used as healthy controls, and 2 groups of 30 positive animals were treated with a herbal gel (Mastilep), which contains Glycyrrhiza glabra, Curcuma longa, Eucalyptus globulus, Cedrus deodara, Paederia foetida and sulfur. The gel was applied to the whole udder and the teats twice daily, after each milking, for 3 or 5 days in the 2 groups, respectively; the remaining 15 infected animals were kept as untreated controls. Microbiological examination of the milk samples showed mixed bacterial infections, with or without fungi, in 57 (76%) of the cases found positive in the tests. Of the 69 isolates, 30 were Staphylococcus, with S. aureus present in 16, and 9 were Bacillus sp. The infections progressed in the untreated, positive animals, but treatment with Mastilep was effective, irrespective of the aetiology of the infection; milk yield increased by 16.25 and 15.20% after 5 and 3 days of treatment, respectively, and none of the treated animals developed clinical mastitis in the following 2 months.