Is Orbeseal the Answer to Mastitis in Organic Farms

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Is Orbeseal® the answer to mastitis in organic farms?

Christophe Notz, Animal Health Division, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, Switzerland

In addition to fertility problems mastitis also is a main animal health problem in organic dairy farms. A lot of therapeutics, mostly conventional, are used for this indication. The losses due to lower milk production, cure costs and replacement costs are enormous. Furthermore the regulations for organic farming rather favour complementary therapies than the use of antibiotics or other chemical-synthetic drugs. Consequently the non-antibiotic teat-sealer labelled as Orbeseal® could be a solution to improve the udder health in organic farming.

More than 50% of clinical mastitis cases have their origin in the dry period (Bradley, 2000; Todhunter, 1991). According to Dingwell (2003) more than 50% of the cows have open teat-ends at the end of the first week of the dry period and still 23% after 6 weeks. In this time, mastitis pathogens can enter the teat canal and an infection develops in the udder tissue. This could be a result of a breeding strategy, which preferred cows with a high milk flow and a weak teat canal sphincter..The development of a teat-sealer was an approach to deal with these problems. The teat-sealer closes the teat duct at drying off. Two kinds of teat-sealer have been generated, an external and an internal one. The external teat-sealer, which covers the teat end like a second skin, could not be implemented successfully, due to insufficient adhesion at the teat end.

The internal teat-sealer Orbeseal® consists of 65% bismuth subnitrate and the remaining 35% are paraffin wax, aluminium-hydroxid-distearat and siliciumoxid. At drying off Orbeseal® is applied intramammary and forms a physical barrier in the teat end (Berry and Hillerton, 2002). It remains in the udder over the dry period and after calving it is milked out. But frequently the removing of this chewinggum like substance lasts several milkings. According to Berry an Hillerton (2002) flecks of teat seal in the foremilk were reported for up to three weeks after calving and the flecks should not be confused with clinical signs of mastitis. Studies about the application of Orbeseal® show lower new intramammary infections after calving than in the untreated control group and also better results than after use of long-acting antibiotics at drying off (Berry and Hillerton , 2002; Woolford et al., 1998; Huxley et al., 2002; Godden et al., 2003). In a new Swiss study, the Orbeseal® treated group shows no difference comparing to the untreated control group in the CMT results after calving, even there are more quarters infected with coliforms after calving than in the untreated control group (Schaeren and Maurer, 2005).

Based on our experiences with Orbeseal® we also consider an application to be problematic. In case Orbeseal® enters accidentally would enter the milking system surfaces will be clotted with it. Leaky sealing and loosing of the teat-sealer plug are also described in practice with Orbeseal®.

Inorganic bismuth compounds including bismuth subnitrate are used orally in veterinary and human medicine for their antiacid action and for their mild adstringent action in gastrointestinal disorders (EMEA 1999). The half-life period in humans is described between minutes and several years (Slikkerveer and de Wolff, 1989).

Different side effects in human therapies with bismuth have been described, such as encephalopathy, nephropathy, stomatitis and colitis (Nigam et al., 1991; Loiseau et al., 1976). Beetween 1974 and 1976 more than 100 cases of iatrogenic encephalopathy due to ingestion of bismuth taken for the treatment of chronic digestive disorders have been reported in France. The levels of bismuth in the blood and urine in these patients were between 10 and 100 times as high as those in patients who had taken the same treatment without ill effect (Loiseau, 1976). Studies in rats showed that the acute toxicity of bismuth was enhanced when bismuth was given as a complex with cysteine. The increase in the concentration of thiol compounds like cysteine in the gastrointestinal tract arising from food, or more probably from microorganism synthesis, could be an explanation for human encephalopathies (Chaleil et al., 1981).

In organic farming calving often happen without surveillance of the farmer. For the health of the calf it is very important that it suckles in minimum 2 to 3 litres of colostrum in the first 12 hours after birth. This colostrums intake is very important for a sufficient immunity in calves (Rademacher, 2003). In organic farming we have to assume that after birth the calf drinks the whole or a part of the administered teat-sealer and with that it also receives bismuth subnitrate. The producer of the Orbeseal® presumes that both with humans and with animals bismuth will be ingested only in traces (<1%) but there are no pharmacokinetic or residue data available in target animals after oral use of bismuth subnitrate (EMEA 1999). Animal experiments in rats described a bismuth accumulation mainly in the kidney, followed by bone, red blood cells and the lung (Dresow et al., 1991).

A further problem is the increased permeability of the intestine in calves during the first 24 hours. So it is possible that the absorption of bismuth in new born calves is higher than the absorption in adult rats, mice or humans, which have been the basis for decision for EMEA.

An ecological problem could be the waste management of bismuth in milk, if the milked teat-seal is deposited in the liquid manure.

For these reasons it is crucial that there will be more studies about the use of Orbeseal® in organic farming concerning the application on farm and the effects of bismuth on humans, animals and the environment.

Literature:

Berry, E.A.; Hillerton, J.E. 2002. The effect of an intramammary teat seal on new intramammary infections. J Dairy Sci 85: 2512-2520

Bradley, A.J.; Grenn, M.J. 2000. A study of the incidence and significance of intramammary enterobacterial infections acquired during dry period. J Dairy Sci 83: 1957-1965

Chaleil, D; Lefevre,F.; Allain, P.; Martin, G.J. 1980. Enhanced bismuth digestive absorption in rats by some sulfhydryl compounds: nmr study of complexes formed. J Inorganic Biochemistry, Volume 15, Issue 3, 1981, p. 213-221

Dingwell, R.T.; Leslie, K.E., Duffield, T.F., Schukken, Y.H., DesCoteaux, L., Keefe, G.P., Kelton, D.F., Lissemore, K.D., Shewfelt, W., Dick, P., Bagg, R. 2003. Efficacy if intramammary Tilmicosin and risk factors for cure of Staphylococcus aureus infection in the dry period. J Dairy Sci 86: 159-168

EMEA. 1999. The European Agency for the evaluation of Medicinal products. Comitee for veterinary medicinal products. Bismuth subnitrate, summary report.

Loiseau, P.; Henry, P.; Jallon, P.; Legroux, M. 1976. Iatrogenic myoclonic encephalopathies caused by bismuth salts. J Neurol Sci, Feb 27: 133-143

Rademacher, G. 2003. Nabelerkrankungen beim Kalb: Diagnose, Therapie, Prognose und Prophylaxe. 21. Bayr. Tierärztetag 2003, München

Schaeren, W.; Maurer, J. 2005. The use of an internal teat sealant, Orbeseal®, as a preventive measure for the dry cow period. 4th SAFO Workshop, at FIBL in Frick, CH. 17th - 19th March 2005, 2005, 1-4

Slikkerveer, A.; de Wolff, F.A. 1989. Pharmacokinetics and toxicity of bismuth compounds. Med Toxicol Adverse Drug Exp, Sep-Oct 4: 303-323