Comparison of the effect of systemic and local antibacterial therapy to control staphylococcal intramammary infection in prepartum heifers

This study was conducted to compare systemic versus intramammary administration ofantibiotics in eliminating intramammary infection (IMI) of Staph. aureus in Holstein heifers. Heifersapproaching parturition were randomly assigned into 4 groups of 30. Group 1 to 3 received Nafpenzal-DC (DC), Tylosin (TY), Enrofloxacin(EN), respectively and group 4 received no treatment (control).Postpartum cure rates were 93, 83, 70 and 47% in heifers of Group 1 to 4, respectively (p<0.05). Thecure rates in heifers that belonged to DC and TY groups were higher than that in control group (p<0.01).There was no significant difference between the cure rates of TY and DC groups and between EN andTY groups. Cure rate in DC group was greater than that in EN group (p<0.05). In conclusion, prepartumsystemic treatment by Tylosin, which is easier to apply and prevents injuries for both heifer and milker,might replace DC treatment for controlling staphylococcal mastitis in dairy heifers. J.Vet.Res. 62,2:7-9,2007.

Comparison of the effect of systemic and local antibacterial therapy to control staphylococcal intramammary infection in prepartum heifers Keywords:

heifers , Staph. aurous , mastitis control