Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXI
Written by Radu M. GIUPANĂ, Ioan S. GROZA, Constantin Gh. CERBU, Mihaela NICULAE, Krisztina RINDT, Marina SPINU
Bovine mastitis is a major problem of dairy animals despite the numerous preventive and therapeutic approaches. Given the increased antibiotic resistance of the involved bacterial strains, this research aimed to evaluate the efficacy of alternative therapy with honey and propolis in treating mastitis in cattle. The research was carried out on a group of 28 animals, aged 3 to 11 years, of Romanian Spotted and Red Holstein breeds. The investigations aimed the isolation and identification of bacteria involved in cases of clinical mastitis in cows, evaluation of their sensitivity/resistance to commonly used antibiotics, as well as the assessment of honey and propolis efficacy on bacteria isolated from mastitis cases of intensively managed cows. Main methods used were classical cultivation and Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test. Antibiotic resistant or highly resistant staphylococci were encountered in almost all milk samples. The comparative study regarding the use of various propolis tincture concentrations showed maximum efficacy for the 20% concentration, with decreasing effects for larger concentrations, which denied the hypothesis according to which increased concentrations produce increased effect. The efficacy of honey products depended upon concentration and bacterial strain, individualized tratment schemes being absolutely necessary.The results indicated that frequent and uncontrolled use of antibiotics against mastitis led to the development of multi- or total resistance to antibiotics, thus honey and propolis represented valuable therapeutical alternatives, especially in case of Staphylococcus. The obtained results are encouraging, mainly for the clinical use of propolis in therapy alone or in combination with antibiotics, after standardization of the method through in vivo studies and finding a method for diminishing the irritative effects of the propolis tincture.
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