Innovative Elastomers with Antimicrobial Activity May Decrease Infection Risks during Milking
-
Published:2023-12-08
Issue:12
Volume:12
Page:1431
-
ISSN:2076-0817
-
Container-title:Pathogens
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Pathogens
Author:
Meroni Gabriele1ORCID, Sora Valerio12ORCID, Zaghen Francesca12ORCID, Laterza Giulia12ORCID, Martino Piera Anna1ORCID, Zecconi Alfonso1ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences-One Health Unit, School of Medicine, University of Milan, Via Pascal 36, 20133 Milan, Italy 2. Department of Clinical and Community Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Milan, Via Celoria 22, 20133 Milan, Italy
Abstract
Contagious pathogens are very costly to dairy herds, and they may have zoonotic and reverse-zoonotic potentials and may contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance. One of the most important risk factors for spreading these infections is milking, when liner contamination may transfer the pathogens from infected to healthy cows. There is no effective protocol to prevent the transmission of infection without the segregation of infected cows. Recently, the availability of elastomers with patented antimicrobial components in their formulations has allowed the exploration of alternative methods to reduce the risk of infection. Two different types of elastomers (rubber and silicone) and nine different formulations were challenged with three major mastitis pathogens (S. aureus, S. agalactiae, and E. coli). The results that were obtained in this study were interesting and unexpected. Indeed, to our knowledge, this is the first study to show that basic rubber materials have intrinsic antimicrobial activity. Silicone elastomers did not exhibit the same levels of bactericidal activity, although they did exhibit some antibacterial capacity. A significant decrease in bacterial survival curves was observed for all the formulations tested when antimicrobial components were added. The different results observed for the various products are likely due to the different formulations and diverse manufacturing processes. The availability of these new materials that significantly reduce the bacterial load on the liner surface may reduce the risk of spreading intramammary infections during milking. This would be an important step forward in achieving global sustainability of dairy herds, consistent with the objectives of One Health, by reducing the risks of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial treatments.
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Microbiology (medical),General Immunology and Microbiology,Molecular Biology,Immunology and Allergy
Reference35 articles.
1. Economic effects of bovine mastitis and mastitis management: A review;Halasa;Vet. Q.,2007 2. Production Diseases Reduce the Efficiency of Dairy Production: A Review of the Results, Methods, and Approaches Regarding the Economics of Mastitis;Hogeveen;Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ.,2019 3. Luo, T., Steeneveld, W., Nielen, M., Zanini, L., and Zecconi, A. (2023). Linear Mixed-Effects Model to Quantify the Association between Somatic Cell Count and Milk Production in Italian Dairy Herds. Animals, 13. 4. Meroni, G., Sora, V.M., Martino, P.A., Sbernini, A., Laterza, G., Zaghen, F., Soggiu, A., and Zecconi, A. (2022). Epidemiology of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Streptococcus agalactiae Sequences from a Public Database in a One Health Perspective. Antibiotics, 11. 5. The fall and rise of group B Streptococcus in dairy cattle: Reintroduction due to human-to-cattle host jumps?;Crestani;Microb. Genom.,2021
|
|