Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 20;12(12):2651.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12122651.

Elimination of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Mammary Glands of Dairy Cows by an Additional Antibiotic Treatment Prior to Dry Cow Treatment

Bernd-Alois Tenhagen  1 , Mirka Elisabeth Wörmann  1 , Anja Gretzschel  2 , Mirjam Grobbel  1 , Sven Maurischat  1 , Tobias Lienen  1
Affiliations

Elimination of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Mammary Glands of Dairy Cows by an Additional Antibiotic Treatment Prior to Dry Cow Treatment

Bernd-Alois Tenhagen et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have been isolated from quarter milk samples of dairy cows, raising concerns over transmission to consumers of raw milk. This study investigates whether pre-treatment before dry-off can increase the success rate of dry cow treatment against MRSA. MRSA positive cows were assigned to two treatment groups. Both groups received dry cow treatment with a licensed product. The test group was additionally treated intramammarily with pirlimycin over seven days prior to the dry-off treatment. The use of pirlimycin increased the elimination of MRSA from previously MRSA positive udder quarters significantly (96.0 vs. 53.3%). However, MRSA were still present in noses and udder clefts of cows in MRSA negative quarter milk samples. New infections were observed in some quarters in both groups. Quarters that remained positive carried the same strain as prior to treatment. All MRSA isolates were associated with clonal complex CC398. Resistance to pirlimycin associated with the genes erm(C) or lnu(B) was observed in one isolate each from new infections after calving. Pretreatment supported the elimination of MRSA from the udder but did not eliminate MRSA from other body sites. Using the treatment will not eliminate the bacteria from the herd.

Keywords: MRSA; dairy sector; dry cow treatment; pirlimycin; skin colonization.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Status of udder quarters before dry-off and their respective diagnosis after parturition. More than half of the udder quarters were negative for MRSA prior to dry-off and after calving. Therefore, only the percentage range above 50% is displayed. neg-neg, negative prior to treatment and after calving; neg-pos, negative prior to treatment and positive after calving; pos-neg, positive prior to treatment and negative after calving; pos-pos, positive prior to treatment and after calving.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Genomic comparison (SNP analysis) of MRSA obtained from quarter milk samples of different cows (C), quarters (Q) and time points (S1, S2, S3, S4). S1 and S2 represent sampling before dry-off. Collection of S3 and S4 was carried out after calving. Cow C15 was affected by mastitis during the trial.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Schnitt A., Tenhagen B.A. Risk Factors for the Occurrence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Dairy Herds: An Update. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 2020;17:585–596. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2019.2638. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moawad A.A., El-Adawy H., Linde J., Jost I., Tanja G., Katja H., Karsten D., Neubauer H., Monecke S., Tomaso H. Whole genome sequence-based analysis of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis in Thuringia, Germany. Front. Microbiol. 2023;14:1216850. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1216850. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Preziuso S., Attili A.R., Cuteri V. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci in clinical bovine mastitis: Occurrence, molecular analysis, and biofilm production. Vet. Res. Commun. 2023;48:969–977. doi: 10.1007/s11259-023-10268-x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alves J.S., de Moura Souza R., Lima Moreira J.P., Gonzalez A.G.M. Antimicrobial resistance of Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus spp. isolated from raw cow’s milk from healthy, clinical and subclinical mastitis udders. Prev. Vet. Med. 2024;227:106205. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2024.106205. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schnitt A., Lienen T., Wichmann-Schauer H., Cuny C., Tenhagen B.A. The occurrence and distribution of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ST398 on German dairy farms. J. Dairy Sci. 2020;103:11806–11819. doi: 10.3168/jds.2020-18958. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources