title: Relationship between occurrence of mastitis pathogens in dairy cattle herds and raw-milk indicators of hygienic-sanitary quality.
abstract: Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary glands and in most cases it is caused by the presence of microorganisms. High mastitis rates in dairy cattle herds can cause an increase in total microorganism counts of bulk tank milk. The present paper was aimed at verifying whether the occurrence of mastitis in dairy cattle herds is reflected in raw-milk indicators of hygienic-sanitary quality. To observe the correlation among the analysed variables, we performed a logarithmical transformation (log10) of different indicator counts of raw milk and compared them with the occurrence of mastitis in dairy cattle herds. Few correlations were observed among mastitis cases in dairy cattle herds and the raw-milk indicators of hygienic-sanitary quality. We observed a negative correlation between the log10 of mesophilic aerobic plate counts and psychotropic aerobic plate counts when compared with the occurrence of no bacterial growth. The log10 of thermophilic aerobic plate counts and yeasts and mould aerobic plate counts presented a positive correlation with the cases of infectious mastitis and mastitis caused by Staphylococcus spp.
authors.affiliation: University of São Paulo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Preventive Veterinary and Animal Health, Av. Prof. Dr. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87 - CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil. lims_br@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Luís I M
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Souto
authors.forename: Clarice Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Minagawa
authors.forename: Evelise O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Telles
authors.forename: Márcio A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Garbuglio
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amaku
authors.forename: Ricardo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: Sonia T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.forename: Nilson R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Benites
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002417:Cattle; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000382:microbiology*; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000592:standards*