Bovine mastitis therapy

Walkenhorst, M., Garbe, S., Klocke, P., Merck, C.C., Notz, C., Riisch, P. and Spranger, J. (2001), Strategies for prophylaxis and therapy of bovine mastitis , in Positive Health Preventive Measures and Alternative Strategies, Proceedings of the Fifth NAHWOA Workshop, Rodding/DK, 27-32. 

Potential therapeutic applications of host defense peptides also include the lantibiotic nisin. Indeed, nisin has had an impressive history as a food preservative with FDA approval in 1988 for use in pasteurized, processed cheese spreads. The attractiveness of nisin as a potential therapeutic is also enhanced due to its relative resistance to proteases and broad spectrum Gram-positive antimicrobial activity including multidrug-resistant strains. Biosynexus Inc. has licensed the use of nisin for human clinical applications and Immucell Corp. has licensed the use of Mast Out, an antimastitic nisin-containing product, to Pfizer Animal Health." Indeed, nisin formulations have been used as an active agent in the topical therapies Mast Out and Wipe-Out for bovine mastitis, an inflammatory disorder of the udder that is the most persistent disease in dairy cows." ... 

In the U.S., unlike most nations, some antibiotic products for mastitis therapy are available to the dairyman without a veterinary prescription. For FDA approval of an over-the-counter intramammary infusion product, it is required that adequate directions for use be written so that the layman can use the drug safely and for the purposes for which it is intended. The following antibiotics are currently approved and marketed for intramammary infusion in treatment of bovine mastitis (26) ... 

Nowadays, one stated objective of much of the more imaginative mastitis research is the reduction in our dependence on antibiotics and other exogenous chemicals to control bovine mastitis. Achievement of this goal is nowhere in sight. And so, we are left dependent upon antimicrobial therapy, despite its many limitations, as a major element in control strategy for bovine mastitis. 

An ideal antimicrobial agent for systemic therapy of bovine mastitis should possess the following properties ... 

Prescott, J.F. Baggot, J.D. Principles of antimicrobial drug disposition antimicrobial drug use in bovine mastitis. In Antimicrobial Therapy in Veterinary Medicine, 2nd Ed. Iowa State University Press Ames, Iowa, 1993 37-60, 553-561. 

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