[MUSIC] Now let's talk about Bovine mastitis. As mentioned earlier, it all begins with a disease with a clean and healthy utter. A healthy utter is defined as an utter free of mastitis. So what's mastitis? Inflammation of one or more quarters of the udder is called as mastitis. An udder with mastitis may show signs of swelling, painful to touch, warm, and may also at times show signs of redness. All the four signs that's including swelling, pain, warm, and redness alone. All in combination are signs of mastitis in a cow. Mastitis as a disease is one of the most costly disease affecting dairy cows through all the world. In the Untied States alone it is estimated that mastitis causing at loss of close to $200 per cow per year. And annually the total lose due to mastitis may be about $2 billion per year. The economic losses are due to low in milk production, use of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. Veterinary fees, losses due to removing the cow from the herd, or death of the cow. So let us understand what causes mastitis. Nearly 70% of the mastitis in cows is caused by bacteria. While only 2% of the infection may be caused by yeast and molds went for nearly 28% of the cases, we don't really know what causes mastitis. There is some evidence to suggest that factors such as injury, or trauma, and weather extremes could result in mastitis. One would ask where do these mastitis causing organisms come from? These organisms, or bacteria, are likely to come from three sources. The first one being an infected udder. The second one is the environmental source such as bedding, soil, water, and manure. The third source can be cows with mastitis that have been recently purchased to replace other cows. Back to the cause can be broadly grouped into two categories. The first category of bacteria is called as contagious mastitis pathogens. These bacteria prefer to live and multiply in the udder, then the environment and these bacteria gain access to other uninfected udders at the time of milking. The second category of bacteria is called as environmental mastitis pathogens. As the name implies, they originate from the environment such as bedding, manure and soil. If one were to ask how mastitis develops, the following illustration will help us understand the process of infection. Briefly, the bacteria from the environment such as bedding, manure, and soil come on to the teat skin and between milking they enter the udder through the teat canal. They then migrate up through the teat canal and colonize the udder. Once they have colonized the udder, they produce toxins that are harmful to the udder. The udder recognizes the bacteria and its immune system is then activated. When it activates its immune system, it then sends the white blood cells to kill and stop the bacteria from causing further damage to the udder. This fight between the bacteria and the udder could result in three outcomes. The first being the udder is free of infection. The second outcome could be that infection could not be stopped. And results in clinical infection, all signs of mastitis. When the third outcome could be what is termed as subclinical mastitis, in which the infection is present in the udder, and, if not taken care of, could result in clinical mastitis. So the big question is, what happens to the white blood cells that are present in the udder to fight infections. We tend to call the white blood cells that are present in the udder as somatic cells. The somatic cells leave the udder to the milk, so cows with infection that's primarily clinical, subclinical mastitis generally have high somatic cells numbers, while cows free from infection have very low somatic cell numbers. So, where do these somatic cells in the milk end up on the farm? The somatic cells in the milk end up in the bulk tank on the farm. So the first indicator of milk quality is the number of somatic cells. The U.S. standard for somatic cells in bulk tank milk is that the bulk tank milk should contain less than 750,000 cells per milliliter of milk. Let us further examine what are these somatic cells? Somatic cells, as I earlier mentioned, are nothing else but white blood cells that come into the udder through the blood stream. Their primary role is to fight infections and repair the damage caused by the infection. So typically somatic cells are present in very low numbers at any given time in the udder of a healthy cow. Somatic cells are one of the best indicators for determining the status of the udder health. Milk quality and lost of milk production due to mastitis. Milk for cows with low somatic cells also that is less than 200 thousand cells per milliliters such is that the cow is free of mastitis and the quality of milk is excellent to very good with little or no loss in milk production. As the number of somatic cell count increases in milk, the likelihood of cows having mastitis is also elevated. Along with lower milk production and increased loss of milk production. So what do high somatic cells do to milk quality? Somatic cells produce enzymes which break down milk proteins and fat which result in foul odor and taste to milk. And milk products made from milk with high somatic cells have poor quality and lower shelf life. Also, use of milk with high somatic cells for making cheese could result in lower yield of the product. It is also been shown that enzymes released by so milk itself are resistant to pasteurization temperatures, and could continue to breakdown proteins, even when the milk is kept under refrigeration temperatures. And let's talk about Detection and Diagnosis of Mastitis. Mastitis can occur in three forms, clinical, sub clinical, and chronic mastitis. Cows with clinical mastitis invariably exhibit pain on touch, and swelling of the udder. Is also often frequently observed. The milk from these cows can range from blood in milk to clots, flakes, to straw colored milk. The ability to produce milk also significantly declines, and if untreated, could result in systemic infection in the cow. Cows with subclinical mastitis do not show clinical signs. The only changes observed are that the milk may have clots, flakes, or the milk may be thin. Subclinical mastitis is 5 to 40 times more common than clinical form, and a dairy herd with many cows with sub clinical mastitis could result in significant milk production on the farm. Chronic infection is a long standing infection resulting from a previous clinical or sub clinical infection and is quite often seen with the increasing age of the cow. Mastitis can be diagnosed by physical examination of the udder of the cow. Examining the milk from the cow suspected for mastitis. By performing a California Mastitis test or a cow site somatic cell contest. And the last one can be is doing farm culture test or sending the suspect milk sample. The laboratory could test for bacterial culture for mastitis pathogens. This slide provides an overview as to how to perform on a California mastitis test. The next slide provides links to two videos on YouTube. The first one is on proper milk collection, and the second two videos are on performing the California mastitis test, and inputting the results. The number of somatic cells in milk samples is one of the best indicators to determine. If a cow has mastitis, an alternate to California Mastitis Test. There are now quite a few calcite kits that you can actually use, to determine the number of somatic cells in the milk sample in real time. One such instrument is the DeLaval -DCC, that provides the number of somatic cells in a few easy steps. A web link is provided on this line that shows how the DeLaval instrument can be used to determine the number of somatic cells right on the farm. The most reliable and accurate method of determining if a cull has mastitis. Is to culture the milk sample and identify the organism or the bacteria that is causing the infection. The milk sample from the cow suspected from mastitis in a diagnostic laboratory is examined for a variety of mastitis pathogens. The findings of the laboratory analysis is typically provided to the owner and a veterinarian to come up with the most appropriate decision on treating the cow, or preventing mastitis in the herd. [MUSIC]