Introduction: Mastitis may result in physical, chemical and microbiological changes in milk and pathological lesions in the glandular tissue. Milk derived from cows with mastitis may become a cause of infections in humansw and animals.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of selected dipping agents in the inactivation of several bacteria that may cause mastitis in cattle.
Material and methods: Three strains of each of the following species: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes, isolated from milk, were used in the study. Identification of isolates was carried out using the automatic system VITEK2 Compact. Evaluation of the genetic similarity between the tested strains was made using the RAPD technique. Drug susceptibility of strains was evaluated with the disc diffusion method. Assessment of the effectiveness of iodine, stabilized iodine, povidone iodine and chlorhexidine was performed using fragments of skin from cow teats.
Results: All the tested strains were genetically different. Most of them were susceptible to the studied antibiotics. Only two strains of L. monocytogenes were resistant to all the studied antibiotics. The percentage rate of reduction in the number of bacteria after using of dipping agents was very high (>90%). The most susceptible to the dipping preparations used were L. monocytogenes (99.6 - 99.9%). Stabilized iodine was the most effective dipping agent for all tested bacteria, causing a reduction rate in the number of bacteria from 99.80% (E. coli) - 99.99% (S. aureus, L. monocytogenes).
Conclusions: The results obtained may contribute to a reduction in udder infections in cows, especially mastitis, and improve the quality of the milk.
Keywords: Mastitis; bacteria inactivation; dipping agents; udder.