Intramammary infections (IMI) can cause mastitis, a prevalent and costly infectious disease in dairy cattle worldwide.The IMI is caused by a range of bacteria, including Corynebacterium spp.Knowledge of the transmission dynamics of pathogens is generally sparse but essential to support decision-making; such as input to bioeconomic models.
In this observational study, we explored the transmission dynamics of Corynebacterium spp.in two different Danish dairy cattle herds by testing monthly quarter-level milk Calligraphy set samples of all lactating cows for 1 year.We estimated the prevalence for herd 1 and 2 to 24 and 11.
7%, respectively, and the mean quarter-level incidence to be 8 and 6.5% per month, respectively.We compared a model for indirect transmission via the environment with a model with the direct contagious transmission and found that the latter model best explained the data.
We estimated the daily mean quarter-level transmission rate Detergents to be 0.016 and 0.018 cases/quarter-day for herd 1 and 2, respectively.
The mean recovery rate was 0.012 and 0.016 for herd 1 and 2, respectively.
Consequently, the basic reproduction number for herd 1 and 2 was 1.27 and 1.10, respectively.
This study highlights that Corynebacterium spp.can be prevalent within a herd and transmit directly between cows.Thus, future studies should investigate cost-effective control measures against Corynebacterium spp.