Microbial Aetiology, Antibiotic Susceptibility and Pathogen-Specific Risk Factors for Udder Pathogens from Clinical Mastitis in Dairy Cows
Authors: Duse Anna , Persson-Waller Karin , Pedersen Karl 
Published: July 2021

Mastitis is one of the most important infectious diseases and one of the diseases that causes the greatest use of antibiotics in dairy cows. Therefore, updated information on the bacteria that cause mastitis and their antibiotic susceptibility properties is important. Here, for the first time in over 10 years, we updated the bacterial findings in clinical mastitis in Swedish dairy cows together with their antibiotic resistance patterns and risk factors for each bacterial species. During the period 2013–2018, samples from clinical mastitis were collected, together with information on the cows and herds of origin. The samples were cultured, and a total of 664 recovered bacterial isolates were subjected to susceptibility testing. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was the most common pathogen and accounted for 27.8% of diagnoses, followed by Streptococcus dysgalactiae (S. dysgalactiae) (15.8%), Escherichia coli (E. coli) (15.1%), Streptococcus uberis (S. uberis) (11.4%), Trueperella pyogenes (T. pyogenes) (7.7%), non-aureus staphylococci (NAS) (2.8%), Klebsiella spp. (2.7%), Enterococcus spp. (1.3%), and Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) (1.2%). Various other bacteria accounted for 2.6%. Staphylococci were, in general, susceptible to most antibiotics, but 2.6% of S. aureus and 30.4% of NAS were resistant to penicillin. No methicillin-resistant staphylococci were found. All S. agalactiae were susceptible to penicillin. Bimodal and trimodal MIC distributions for penicillin in S. dysgalactiae and S. uberis, respectively, indicate acquired reduced susceptibility in some isolates. The mostly unimodal MIC distributions of T. pyogenes indicate that acquired resistance does usually not occur in this species. Among E. coli, 14.7% were resistant to at least one antibiotic, most often ampicillin (8.7%), streptomycin (7.8%), or sulphamethoxazole (6.9%). Klebsiella spp. had low resistance to tetracycline (9.1%) but is considered intrinsically resistant to ampicillin. Pathogen-specific risk factors were investigated using multivariable models. Staphylococcus aureus, S. dysgalactiae, and T. pyogenes were more common, while E. coli was less common in quarters with more than one pathogen. S. aureus and T. pyogenes were mostly seen in early lactation, while E. coli was more common in peak to mid lactation and S. dysgalactiae in early to peak lactation. Trueperella pyogenes and Klebsiella spp. were associated with a previous case of clinical mastitis in the current lactation. Staphylococcus aureus was associated with tie stalls and T. pyogenes with loose housing. All pathogens except E. coli and S. dysgalactiae had a seasonal distribution. In conclusion, the aetiological agents for clinical bovine mastitis have remained relatively stable over the last 10–15 years, S. aureus, S. dysgalactiae, E. coli and S. uberis being the most important. Resistance to penicillin among Gram-positive agents was low, and in general, antibiotic resistance to other compounds was low among both Gram-positive and Gram-negative agents.