Is Summer Mastitis Caused by Flies?

Introduction Summer mastitis is currently thought to be a clinical infection of non breast-feeding breasts in cattle (1). It is usually associated with pre- and postpartum heifers and dry cows, but it is found in bulls and calves (2) (3). In calves, there are barren calves in spring that are breeding breeding (4). Although this is not considered a disease, it is a nonspecific term related to various infectious diseases (5). Because the exact mode of infection is not fully understood, there are complicated causes for this disease.

Mastitis is caused by several common bacteria, fungi, mycoplasmas and algae (Batavani, Asri and Naebzadeh, 2007). Most mastitis is bacterial and in most cases there are only a few bacteria. Mastitis pathogens are classified as infectious or environmental (Kivaria, 2006). Infectious pathogens survive and breed within the mammary glands of cattle and spread mainly from cows to cows during milking. Environmental mastitis can be broadly defined as intramammary infection (IMI) caused by pathogens where primary reservoirs are bovine environment (Smith, Todhunter and Schoenberger, 1985). The most common isolated environmental pathogen is Streptococcus, with the exception of Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus mutans (usually Streptococcus sanguis and Streptococcus mutans) and Gram negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli. Burdock and Enterobacter (Hogan et al., 1999)

Many microorganisms have been reported to cause bovine mastitis. Most of them are bacteria, but fungi and algae can also cause mastitis problems in specific herds and areas. However, the worldwide most common breast pathogens are Staphylococcus aureus (Staphylococcus aureus and several coagulase negative staphylococci species (CNS), Streptococci (Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus uberis) and Escherichia coli (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella), and even other pathogens such as M. bovis, may cause problems depending on the area, mainly due to the difference between management and housing system, there are still differences between farms.