Epidemiological Investigation of Bovine Mastitis in Southern Darfur State - Sudan

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 386 lactating cows at Southern Darfur state, during the period May-July 2013. The objectives of the study were to estimate the overall prevalence of clinical and sub clinical mastitis and to investigate the association of potential risk factors associated with the disease. A total of 386 lactating dairy cows comprising 223 local and 163 cross breed cows were randomly selected and screened using California Mastitis Test (CMT) for sub clinical mastitis and clinically examined for clinical mastitis. The overall prevalence rate was found to be 39.9% (16.3% clinical and 23.6% sub clinical). The highest prevalence of clinical mastitis was reported in Toloos locality (21.7%) and the highest prevalence of sub- clinical mastitis in Kass locality (26.6%) while Kass locality showed the lowest prevalence of clinical mastitis (13.4%).The lowest prevalence of sub- clinical mastitis was reported in Toloos locality (13.3%). The following risk factors : age (p- value= 0.003), breed (p-value= 0.199), stage of lactation (p-value = 0.006), parity (p-value= 0.002), presence of tick (p- value= 0.098), teats injuries (p-value=0.000), previous exposure to mastitis (p-value = 0.048), body condition (p-value= 0.018), cows restrained for milking (p- value =0.188), breed (p-value =0.111), clean teats and udder (p-value 0.075), level of hygiene (p- value =0.063), hand washing (p-value 0.016), screening of mastitis (p- value=0.109), udder preparation (p- value =0.136), type of quarter (p- value= 0.058), barn size (p- value =0.042), frequency of bedding removal (p- value = 0.130), sanitary practice (p-value = 0.008) and education of farmer (p- value = 0.002) showed statistical significant association (p-value < 0.25) with the occurrence of mastitis in the univariate analysis. The result of this study also showed that age (p- value 0.003), stage of lactation (p-value = 0.004),parity (p-value= 0.002),teats injuries (p-value=0.000),previous exposure to mastitis (p-value = 0.048),body condition (p-value= 0.018),hand washing (p-value 0.016),barn size (p- value =0.042),sanitary practice (p-value = 0.008) and education of farmer(p- value = 0.002) had statistical significant association with mastitis (p- value ≤ 0.05)in the multivariate analysis.