Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants
Late lactation is a critical moment for making mastitis management decisions, but in small ruminants the reliability of diagnostic tests is typically lower at this stage. We evaluated somatic cell counts (SCC) and cathelicidins (CATH) in late lactation sheep and goat milk for their relationship with...
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MDPI AG
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Pathogens |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/1/37 |
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| author | Giulia Maria Grazia Puggioni Vittorio Tedde Sergio Uzzau Simone Dore Manuele Liciardi Eugenia Agnese Cannas Claudia Pollera Paolo Moroni Valerio Bronzo Maria Filippa Addis |
| author_facet | Giulia Maria Grazia Puggioni Vittorio Tedde Sergio Uzzau Simone Dore Manuele Liciardi Eugenia Agnese Cannas Claudia Pollera Paolo Moroni Valerio Bronzo Maria Filippa Addis |
| author_sort | Giulia Maria Grazia Puggioni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Late lactation is a critical moment for making mastitis management decisions, but in small ruminants the reliability of diagnostic tests is typically lower at this stage. We evaluated somatic cell counts (SCC) and cathelicidins (CATH) in late lactation sheep and goat milk for their relationship with intramammary infections (IMI), as diagnosed by bacteriological culture (BC). A total of 315 sheep and 223 goat half-udder milk samples collected in the last month of lactation were included in the study. IMI prevalence was 10.79% and 15.25%, respectively, and non-aureus staphylococci were the most common finding. Taking BC as a reference, the diagnostic performance of SCC and CATH was quite different in the two species. In sheep, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis produced a higher area under the curve (AUC) value for CATH than SCC (0.9041 versus 0.8829, respectively). Accordingly, CATH demonstrated a higher specificity than SCC (82.92% versus 73.67%, respectively) at comparable sensitivity (91.18%). Therefore, CATH showed a markedly superior diagnostic performance than SCC in late lactation sheep milk. In goats, AUC was <0.67 for both parameters, and CATH was less specific than SCC (61.90% versus 65.08%) at comparable sensitivity (64.71%). Therefore, both CATH and SCC performed poorly in late lactation goats. In conclusion, sheep can be screened for mastitis at the end of lactation, while goats should preferably be tested at peak lactation. In late lactation sheep, CATH should be preferred over SCC for its higher specificity, but careful cost/benefit evaluations will have to be made. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T06:51:47Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0817 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T06:51:47Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pathogens |
| spelling | doaj.art-9685058a91fb416a81eccc746ef73d2c2022-12-22T01:58:32ZengMDPI AGPathogens2076-08172020-01-01913710.3390/pathogens9010037pathogens9010037Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small RuminantsGiulia Maria Grazia Puggioni0Vittorio Tedde1Sergio Uzzau2Simone Dore3Manuele Liciardi4Eugenia Agnese Cannas5Claudia Pollera6Paolo Moroni7Valerio Bronzo8Maria Filippa Addis9Porto Conte Ricerche, 07041 Alghero, ItalyPorto Conte Ricerche, 07041 Alghero, ItalyPorto Conte Ricerche, 07041 Alghero, ItalyNational Reference Center for Sheep and Goat Mastitis, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 07100 Sassari, ItalyNational Reference Center for Sheep and Goat Mastitis, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 07100 Sassari, ItalyNational Reference Center for Sheep and Goat Mastitis, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 07100 Sassari, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Via dell’Università 6, 26900 Lodi, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Via dell’Università 6, 26900 Lodi, ItalyDepartment of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Via dell’Università 6, 26900 Lodi, ItalyPorto Conte Ricerche, 07041 Alghero, ItalyLate lactation is a critical moment for making mastitis management decisions, but in small ruminants the reliability of diagnostic tests is typically lower at this stage. We evaluated somatic cell counts (SCC) and cathelicidins (CATH) in late lactation sheep and goat milk for their relationship with intramammary infections (IMI), as diagnosed by bacteriological culture (BC). A total of 315 sheep and 223 goat half-udder milk samples collected in the last month of lactation were included in the study. IMI prevalence was 10.79% and 15.25%, respectively, and non-aureus staphylococci were the most common finding. Taking BC as a reference, the diagnostic performance of SCC and CATH was quite different in the two species. In sheep, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis produced a higher area under the curve (AUC) value for CATH than SCC (0.9041 versus 0.8829, respectively). Accordingly, CATH demonstrated a higher specificity than SCC (82.92% versus 73.67%, respectively) at comparable sensitivity (91.18%). Therefore, CATH showed a markedly superior diagnostic performance than SCC in late lactation sheep milk. In goats, AUC was <0.67 for both parameters, and CATH was less specific than SCC (61.90% versus 65.08%) at comparable sensitivity (64.71%). Therefore, both CATH and SCC performed poorly in late lactation goats. In conclusion, sheep can be screened for mastitis at the end of lactation, while goats should preferably be tested at peak lactation. In late lactation sheep, CATH should be preferred over SCC for its higher specificity, but careful cost/benefit evaluations will have to be made.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/1/37subclinical mastitissheepgoatlate lactationcathelicidin elisasomatic cell countbacteriological culture |
| spellingShingle | Giulia Maria Grazia Puggioni Vittorio Tedde Sergio Uzzau Simone Dore Manuele Liciardi Eugenia Agnese Cannas Claudia Pollera Paolo Moroni Valerio Bronzo Maria Filippa Addis Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants Pathogens subclinical mastitis sheep goat late lactation cathelicidin elisa somatic cell count bacteriological culture |
| title | Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants |
| title_full | Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants |
| title_fullStr | Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants |
| title_short | Relationship of Late Lactation Milk Somatic Cell Count and Cathelicidin with Intramammary Infection in Small Ruminants |
| title_sort | relationship of late lactation milk somatic cell count and cathelicidin with intramammary infection in small ruminants |
| topic | subclinical mastitis sheep goat late lactation cathelicidin elisa somatic cell count bacteriological culture |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/1/37 |
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