CONTROL OF MAMMITIS

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3250, 3 November 1932, Page 3

CONTROL OF MAMMITIS

RESULT OF EXPERIMENTS,

The following statements appear in an article by Dr Minett, of the Research Institute of Animal Pathology, London, in the Bulletin del’Office International des Epizooties for June, 1932: ,

j “ According to certain observers, good results have been obtained in the prevention and treatment of mastitis with vaccines, and some success has been recorded also after local or general treatment with chemical substances, especially in cases just commencing. It is doubtful whether these conclusions are justified, the symptoms disappearing freqeuntly during teh course of the nnatural evolution of the disease without other treatment that frequent stripping. It is certain that we do not possess up to now experimental demonstration that sound animals can be immunised or that a complete cure, in the bacteriological sense, can be obtained by an efficacious method. It is as well to have this present knowledge in mind when one examines means of prevention. “ Mastitis in the cow, and in particular the chronic strepococcic form, is so distributed and of such considerable importance that the problem of prophylaxis has become urgent. Up to now any treatment, chemico-thera-peutical or immunological, has given no truly satisfactory results, but it is already sufficiently shown that the loss caused by chronic streptococci mastitis can be considerably reduced by sanitary measures, which implies only the separation of infected milking cows. For success, the first essential of the mammary gland should be discovered. It necessitates the utilisation, for diagnosis, of laboratory methods; but if, as it is desirable, the examinations are to be conducted on a large scale, conveniently-equipped laboratories would be necessary, and without these organisation would necessarily be excessive.”