Study of the milk in healthy mares or mares with subclinics mastitis using Whiteside test, microbiological culture and somatic cell count

Abstract

To identify the bacterial population in the milk of healthy mares and with subclinical mastitis, samples (10 to 15 ml) of 38 animals were collected, homogenized and examined using the Whiteside test. The results were negative. The microbiological culture was carried out in 10% agar bovine serum and in agar MacConkey. Both exams revealed the presence of Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp., predominantly. The somatic cell counts (SCC) was performed in individual samples of each teat and showed a number higher than 500,000 cels/ml of milk in only 9.3% of the 73 samples examined. These results obtained suggest that new researches should be done aiming the standardization of the somatic cell in equine milk.