Clinical, Microbiological and Hematological Findings in Ovine Subclinical Mastitis

Abstract

Due to its richness in nutrients, milk represents a complete and balanced food that can be prepared for many other important products in human nutrition. But milk is also a medium of culture for numerous microorganisms. Although milk possesses antimicrobial mechanisms, in many cases it can be contaminated by endogenous or exogenous sources. This microorganism contamination of sheep milk and finished products depreciate its qualitative characteristics and produce severe food poisoning to consumers. In this study we aimed a bacteriological control of five samples of milk haphazardly collected from six particular flocks of sheep in the western part of Romania. In parallel a clinical examination of the animal was carried out, insisting on mammary gland and examination of blood samples collected from the same animals. In laboratory, a bacteriological examination of milk samples and leukogram on blood samples was performed. The identified bacterial species in milk samples were Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus uberis, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus faecium. Although it started from the idea that the animals were healthy, subclinical mammary gland infections was still identified in more than half of the subjects examined.