Brief communication Peer reviewed Bacterial flora on the mammary gland skin of sows and in their colostrum Nicole Kemper, Prof, Dr med vet; Regine Preissler, DVM Summary Resumen - La flora bacteriana en la piel de Résumé - Flore bactérienne cutanée de la Mammary-gland skin swabs and milk la glándula mamaria de las hembras y en su glande mammaire de truies et de leur lait calostro samples were analysed bacteriologically. All Des écouvillons de la peau de la glande skin samples were positive, with 5.2 isolates Se analizaron bacteriológicamente hisopos de mammaire ainsi que des échantillons de lait on average, Staphylococcaceae being the la piel de la glándula mamaria y muestras de ont été soumis à une analyse bactériologique. dominant organisms. In 20.8% of milk leche. Todas las muestras de piel resultaron Tous les échantillons provenant de la peau samples, no bacteria were detected. Two iso- positivas, con 5.2 aislados en promedio, étaient positifs, avec en moyenne 5.2 isolats lates on average, mainly Staphylococcaceae siendo los Staphylococcaceae los organismos bactériens, les Staphylococcaceae étant de loin and Streptococcaceae, were isolated from the dominantes. En 20.8% de las muestras de les micro-organismes dominants. Aucune positive milk samples. leche, no se detectaron bacterias. De las bactérie ne fut détectée dans 20.8% des Keywords: swine, bacteria, colostrum, muestras de leche positivas, se aislaron échantillons de lait. En moyenne, on trouvait mammary gland, skin dos aislados en promedio, principalmente deux isolats bactériens par échantillon de lait Staphylococcaceae y los Streptococcaceae. positif, et ceux-ci étaient principalement des Received: April 7, 2010 Staphylococcaceae et des Streptococcaceae. Accepted: July 1, 2010 oliform mastitis in sows, as part of Materials and methods provided. Farrowing-crate dimensions were the postpartum dysgalactia syn- All animal care and handling procedures individually adjusted to the size of the sow. drome, represents an economically used in this study followed the farms’ written All samples were collected during the period C 1 very important disease complex. In other guidelines in accordance with guidelines set between the beginning of parturition and species, for instance in cows, a higher suscep- forth by the Federation of Animal Science the birth of the last piglet. All sampled sows 3 tibility of the mammary gland to new infec- Societies. showed neither fever nor clinical signs of tions prior to and during parturition was The eight sampled crossbred sows were mastitis during the sampling period, and proposed by Oliver and Sordillo.2 Though housed at the research farm of the Institute none developed mastitis subsequently. coliform mastitis is a multifactorial disease, of Animal Breeding and Husbandry of the Skin sampling from all available glands bacteria play an important role in the patho- Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, with was performed in six sows. In two sows, genesis of infection. Possibly, pathogenic 120 sows in total (average parity 2.5). A vacci- skin sampling was restricted because of the bacteria are not ubiquitous only in the nation program against porcine reproductive animal’s behavior, and only single glands environment of the animals, but are also and respiratory syndrome virus and Myco- were swabbed. Swab samples were taken present on the skin. The skin flora of pigs, plasma hyopneumoniae was implemented from defined skin areas of mammary glands especially on sows’ mammary glands, has not on the farm. The sows were managed with a with the help of a circular stencil (10 cm in yet been the object of scientific examination. 28-day lactation period. One week prior to diameter), with the teat as the central point. This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first expected parturition, they were washed and One sterile cotton swab was moistened published study to determine the bacterial confined in the cleaned and disinfected far- with sterile isotonic saline, rubbed evenly in flora in skin and colostral milk samples of rowing house, with eight pens per compart- the defined area, and transported in Amies a limited number of sows with clinically ment. The floor in the single pens (2.47 m × medium (Transwab; Medical Wire and healthy mammary glands. 1.75 m) was partially slatted and no straw was Equipment, Corsham, Wiltshire, England). In addition, colostrum samples from all sows were collected before the piglets started to Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, G ermany. suckle. All samples were obtained by hand- Dr Kemper is currently affiliated with the Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin- milking without oxytocin injection. For 19 Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany. single glands, milk sampling according to Corresponding author: Prof Dr med vet Nicole Kemper, Professor of Animal Hygiene and the sample scheme was not possible due to Reproduction Physiology in Farm Animals, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, aggressive behavior of the sow or blocked Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 11, D-06120 Halle, Germany; access to the teat. Colostrum samples were Tel: +49-345-5522500; Fax: +49-345-5527115; E-mail: [email protected]. obtained after cleaning each mammary gland This article is available online at http://www.aasv.org/shap.html. with soap solution and disinfection with a local antiseptic (Kodan Tinktur forte; Kemper N, Preissler R. Bacterial flora on the mammary gland skin of sows and in theirc olostrum. Schülke and Mayr, Norderstedt, Germany) J Swine Health Prod. 2011;19(2):112–115. 112 Journal of Swine Health and Production — March and April 2011 and 70% isopropyl alcohol. The first streams (Table 2) and skin samples (Table 3), with S studies on the milk flora of healthy sows and of secretion from each teat were discarded simulans the dominant species (Table 1). sows that developed clinical mastitis in a in order to “wash out” bacteria in the distal later period, for instance, Morkoc et al.7 In Streptococcaceae, with A viridans as the end of the teat duct; the following streams that study, aseptic sampling by percutaneous dominant species, represented 30.3% of all were collected in sterile test tubes. In all, 96 aspiration from the gland cistern showed that isolates from colostrum samples. Entero- skin samples (2, 8, 15, 16, 14, 14, 14, and 13 bacteria were present in 41.6% of the samples bacteriaceae were isolated from only four samples per sow, respectively) and 77 colos- from healthy sows examined and in 74.9% of colostrum samples (3.9% of all colostrum trum samples (2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 6, 14, and 13 the samples from dysgalactic sows examined. isolates), with E coli the dominant species. In samples per sow, respectively) were exam- In dysgalactic sows, there was a higher preva- one colostrum sample, two morphologically ined. Bacteriological analysis was performed lence of gram-negative bacteria.7 Escherichia differentE coli isolates were identified, but by routine bacteriological diagnostics, coli has been described as the major pathogen no E coli was found in the corresponding skin including cultivation on Columbia sheep in coliform mastitis,8 but neither systemic sample. Also, in two other sows, E coli was blood and Endo agar, Gram staining, and clinical signs nor local signs of mastitis were detected in only a single gland. biochemical identification systems (ID32 observed in the examined sows in our study. STAPH, API20STREP, and API20E; bio- The difference between the total numbers of The presence of bacteria in colostrum or milk Mérieux, Nürtingen, Germany), as described bacterial isolates in skin and in colostral milk is not an indicator of mastitis, as stated by previously.4 samples was significant P( < .001), with a Zhu et al.9 Bacterial invasion without signs of higher number in the skin samples. Regarding Statistical analyses included paired chi- inflammation occurs mainly before parturi- the agreement between colostrum and skin squared tests for each sow and teat for the 77 tion and lactation, at the earliest on gestation samples, in 35 of the 61 positive milk samples corresponding skin and colostrum samples, day 108, as shown by repeated sampling by (57.4%), at least one bacterial species was with regard to the isolated bacteria families. Bertschinger et al.6 In our study, mastitis isolated, which was also isolated from the skin The chi-squared test was performed using without clinical signs could not be excluded, sample of the corresponding teat. On isolate the procedure PROC FREQ in SAS statisti- because no other parameters, for instance level, 54 of the 122 species isolated from cal software (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, North somatic cell count or quantitative bacteriol- colostrum (44.3%) were found on the cor- Carolina). A statistical significance level of ogy, were assessed. responding teat skin as well. This correlation P < .05 was used. was especially distinct in S stimulans (13 of 54 Whether the high percentage of skin flora, species; 24.1%) and Staphylococcus warneri (12 especially Staphylococcaceae, in sows’ colos- Results of 54 species; 22.4%). However, paired analysis tral milk is a consequence of contamination A broad but similar spectrum of bacterial for each sow and teat revealed no significant via the teat duct or the mammary epithelia genera was isolated from both skin and relationship (P > .05) between the bacterial from the teat cistern during the milking colostrum samples. All 96 skin samples were families in the skin flora and in colostrum flora. process remains unknown. Colonization of bacteriologically positive, with 496 isolates in the teat duct has been described in cows10 total and 5.2 isolates per sample on average and ewes,11,12 and can therefore be assumed (Table 1). Only three skin samples, all from Discussion Because Staphylococcaceae were isolated for sows. Even though the number of sows a single sow, were negative for Staphylococ- from all sows, from 96.9% of all skin sampled was low, the total sample number caceae.