Dairy Cattle Health: Mastitis, Milk Quality, and Antimicrobial Resistance from a One Health Perspective

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Bacterial Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2025 | Viewed by 699

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences—One Health Unit, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20100 Milan, Italy
Interests: epidemiology; mastitis epidemiology and control; mammary gland immunity; antimicrobial resistance; One Health approach; public health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Among the factors affecting milk production, mastitis continues to play an important role. Furthermore, reducing the incidence of mastitis in dairy herds is essential to improve milk quality, safety, animal welfare, and the overall sustainability of dairy herds. In the last century, a large number of studies have focused on the use of vaccination and biological response modifiers to control mastitis. However, until the beginning of this century, the use of antimicrobial therapy was considered the most effective and simplest way to achieve mastitis control, although the sustainability of this approach was questionable.

The recognition of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a critical global health problem has led to the need for the prudent use of antibiotics to reduce the potential role of mastitis therapy in the development of AMR. Reducing the use of antimicrobials in dairy herds can be achieved by improving herd management, but also by improving the immune defenses of cows, through a reduction in mastitis incidence. Therefore, there is renewed interest in the scientific community in how to improve udder immune defenses. The availability of new molecular methods to study these aspects in detail, as well as tools to analyze differential cell counts, offer new and exciting opportunities to assess the udder immune response and to develop new tools to modulate it, in addition to increasing the accuracy of mastitis diagnosis.

In this context, Pathogens will launch this Special Issue that is dedicated to "Dairy Cattle Health: Mastitis, Milk Quality, and Antimicrobial Resistance from a One Health Perspective" to gather the most recent and relevant results on this topic and offer new sustainable approaches to control mastitis and improve milk quality and safety.

Both original research and review articles are welcomed. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Omics studies on udder immune mechanisms;
  • Mastitis vaccine development and application;
  • Udder immune modulators;
  • Differential cell counts to assess udder immune response;
  • Immune components as mastitis diagnostic tools.

Prof. Dr. Zecconi Alfonso
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • udder immune defenses
  • inflammation
  • milk leukocytes
  • mastitis control
  • One Health approach
  • immune components in milk

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 5484 KiB  
Article
Comprehensive Molecular and Epidemiological Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Bovine Mastitis in Water Buffalo of the Peshawar Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
by Salma Javed, Jo-Ann McClure, Irfan Ullah, Shahzad Ali, Mohammad Ejaz, Sadia Tabassum, Muhammad Ali Syed and Kunyan Zhang
Pathogens 2025, 14(8), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14080735 - 25 Jul 2025
Viewed by 433
Abstract
Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) are a primary source of milk in Pakistan, where bovine mastitis is a significant health issue among cattle, leading to substantial economic losses. Staphylococcus aureus is a predominant pathogen associated with mastitis; however, a detailed molecular characterization [...] Read more.
Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) are a primary source of milk in Pakistan, where bovine mastitis is a significant health issue among cattle, leading to substantial economic losses. Staphylococcus aureus is a predominant pathogen associated with mastitis; however, a detailed molecular characterization of the strains in the country remains limited. We previously characterized mastitis strains from the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In this study, we investigated mastitis cases in the Peshawar division, including samples from both animals and human farm workers for comparison. Higher rates of mastitis (67.27% of animals) and sub-clinical mastitis (91.03% of positive animals) were identified in Peshawar than for those (34.55% and 75.31%, respectively) previously observed in Hazara. Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) belonging to clonal complex 9 (ST2454) were predominant. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) belonging to ST22 and ST8 were also detected in the Nowshera district. While no S. aureus colonization was observed among animal handlers, evidence of hand contamination suggests a potential route for pathogen spread. Low levels of antibiotic resistance were noted amongst isolates, but higher rates were seen in MRSA. This study presents only the second comprehensive molecular investigation of S. aureus isolated from buffalo mastitis in Pakistan and indicates a concerning rise in mastitis within the province. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop