Wieland M, Basran P S, Virkler P D, Heuwieser W
Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
JDS Commun. 2024 Jun 28;5(6):654-658. doi: 10.3168/jdsc.2024-0577. eCollection 2024 Nov.
The importance of teat canal integrity and its adjacent tissues in the dynamics of IMI is well documented, whereas research on the relationship between teat skin condition and clinical mastitis occurrence is scarce. The objective of this prospective cohort study was to investigate the association of teat skin condition with clinical mastitis occurrence in a closed cohort from a commercial dairy farm with a thrice daily milking schedule in the Northeast United States. We tested the hypothesis that quarters with teats with altered skin condition would have higher odds of clinical mastitis than those with normal skin. Teat skin condition from 2,670 cows was assessed during a single visit and categorized into (1) normal, (2) dry skin, (3) skin lesion, and (4) dry skin and skin lesion. Cows were monitored for 2 wk after the teat skin condition assessment, and the occurrence of clinical mastitis at the quarter level was documented. A generalized linear mixed model with a logit link and a binomial distribution revealed an association between teat skin condition and the occurrence of clinical mastitis. Compared with quarters with teats with normal teat skin, the odds (95% CI) of clinical mastitis were 0.98 (0.60-1.60) for teats with dry skin, 1.88 (0.97-3.66) for teats with a skin lesion, and 4.87 (1.71-13.85) for teats with dry skin and a skin lesion. We conclude that quarters from teats with dry skin and skin lesions had higher odds of clinical mastitis. In addition, we found evidence that quarters with teats with skin lesions have higher odds of clinical mastitis than those with normal teat skin, though future studies are needed. The results from this study show that teat skin condition should be considered in mastitis control programs on dairy operations.
乳头管完整性及其相邻组织在隐性乳房炎动态变化中的重要性已有充分记录，而关于乳头皮肤状况与临床型乳房炎发生之间关系的研究却很少。这项前瞻性队列研究的目的是，在美国东北部一个实行每日三次挤奶制度的商业化奶牛场的封闭牛群中，调查乳头皮肤状况与临床型乳房炎发生之间的关联。我们检验了这样一个假设：乳头皮肤状况改变的乳腺区发生临床型乳房炎的几率高于皮肤正常的乳腺区。在一次检查中评估了2670头奶牛的乳头皮肤状况，并将其分为：（1）正常；（2）皮肤干燥；（3）皮肤损伤；（4）皮肤干燥且有损伤。在乳头皮肤状况评估后对奶牛进行了2周的监测，并记录了乳腺区临床型乳房炎的发生情况。一个带有logit连接和二项分布的广义线性混合模型显示，乳头皮肤状况与临床型乳房炎的发生之间存在关联。与乳头皮肤正常的乳腺区相比，皮肤干燥的乳头发生临床型乳房炎的几率（95%可信区间）为0.98（0.60 - 1.60），有皮肤损伤的乳头为1.88（0.97 - 3.66），皮肤干燥且有损伤的乳头为4.87（1.71 - 13.85）。我们得出结论，乳头皮肤干燥且有损伤的乳腺区发生临床型乳房炎的几率更高。此外，我们发现有证据表明，有皮肤损伤的乳头所在乳腺区发生临床型乳房炎的几率高于乳头皮肤正常的乳腺区，不过仍需要进一步研究。这项研究结果表明，在奶牛场的乳房炎控制计划中应考虑乳头皮肤状况。
