One general category of mastitis causing bacteria is the group called contagious mastitis pathogens. These bacteria need to live in or on the cow and generally do not flourish effectively in bedding, soils etc. Due to this limitation they typically have to be transferred from infected cow to uninfected cow by some means in order to spread. In this situation, infected cows cause other cows to become infected. W ith contagious bacteria problems, the more cows infected at any point in time the more likely even more cows will become infected because there are so many potential donors of contagious pathogens.
T here are three ways to limit contagious mastitis pathogen spread.
One is to reduce the number of cows infected at any point in time. Implementing procedures and practices that accomplish this is important. A nother factor is to reduce the infection duration of cows that are infected. The shorter the infection period the less opportunity for spread. For example, a cow infected for one week is less of a threat to other cows in the herd than a cow that is infected for 10 weeks.