mastitis in Egyptian dairy goats.

Background And Aim: Mastitis is an important threat facing goat milk industry and is the most common cause of culling. Efficient control of mastitis, based on efficient diagnosis of diseased animals, would improve milk production and reproductive efficiency. In subclinical mastitis (SCM), infected goats demonstrate neither udder symptoms nor abnormal milk. is an infectious causative agent of mastitis, mostly results as an extension of infection from the supramammary lymph node, and causes financial losses in the goat industry. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of SCM with emphasis on mastitis in Egyptian dairy goats in the selected farms.

Materials And Methods: A total of 336 half milk samples were collected from 177 dairy goats of various crossbreeds, in mid-to-late lactation period, after clinical examination. All samples were examined bacteriologically, while somatic cell count (SCC) was determined only in 180 half milk samples of the clinically healthy milk samples. The isolated and identified was examined for evidence of virulence genes (Phospholipase D [] and β-subunit of RNA polymerase []) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results: The prevalence of clinical mastitis was 30.5%, while 69.5% of animals were apparently healthy and secreted milk was normal. Of those 180 clinically healthy half milk samples, 96 milk samples (53.33%) showed SCM as detected by SCC (SCC ≥1,000,000 cells/ml). Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most prevalent bacteria (41.96%), then (37.5%) and (7.14%). Molecular diagnosis of virulence genes revealed evidence of gene in 16 isolates (66.66%), and gene in 6 samples (25%) of the 24 bacteriologically isolated . Here, we describe, for the 1 time, isolation and identification of from milk of does suffering from SCM in Egypt.

Conclusion: must be considered for routine bacteriological examination of milk from dairy goats, particularly herds with a history of caseous lymphadenitis. gene-based PCR is more reliable than gene-based ones for the diagnosis of .