Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Staphylococcal Species Isolated from Clinical and Subclinical Mastitis in Buffaloes

The present study aimed to determine the resistance/susceptibility to different groups of antibiotics of Coagulase positive and negative Staphylococci isolated from clinical and sub-clinical milk samples from buffaloes. Milk samples were collected from 220 domestic buffaloes around Hyderabad and vicinity. The overall prevalence of mastitis was detected in 66.36% buffaloes, 80 (54.79%) were positive for sub-clinical mastitis while 66 (45.20%) were found positive for clinical mastitis. Pathogenic species recognized were Staphylococcus aureus (48.48%), Staphylococcus chromogenes (15.15%) (Coagulase positive), Staphylococcus epidermidis (18.18%), Staphylococcus cohnii (12.12%) and Staphylococcus haemolyticus (06.06%) (Coagulase negative). During the present study, eight different groups of antibiotics were tested against the bacterial species. The antibiotics Doxycycline (30µ) and Tetracycline (30µ), Neomycin (30µ) found active against Coagulase positive Staphylococcal agents and Norfloxacin (10µ), Sulfamethoxazole/ Trimethoprim (25µ) and Doxycycline (30µ) were highly (>80%) susceptible to coagulase negative Staphylococci. This study concludes a high prevalence of mastitis caused by Staphylococcal spp. in buffaloes in Hyderabad Sindh and Tetracycline and Doxycycline might be appropriate antimicrobial agents in the treatment of bovine mastitis.