OBJECTIVE: To compare relative efficacy of dexamethasone and flumethasone alone or in combination with rapid IV infusion of glucose for treatment of ketosis in cattle. DESIGN: Clinical trial. ANIMALS: 127 cows with urine acetoacetate concentration > or = 60 mg/dl. PROCEDURE: Cows were treated with 500 ml of 50% glucose solution. IV, and 40 mg of dexamethasone, IM (group 1), 40 mg of dexamethasone, IM (group 2), 5 mg of flumethasone (group 3), or 500 ml of 50% glucose solution, IV, and 5 mg of flumethasone (group 4). Treatment success was defined as recovery after a single treatment without relapse during the same lactation. Uterine disease (retained placenta or metritis), parity, and pretreatment plasma glucose, serum beta-hydroxybutyric acid, and urine acetoacetate concentrations were evaluated as possible confounding factors affecting recovery. RESULTS: Only uterine disease was found to have a significant effect on recovery. Treatments 1 and 4 were significantly more efficacious than was treatment 2, but efficacy of treatment 2 was not significantly different from that of treatment 3. Regardless of treatment, cows with uterine disease were less likely to have a successful outcome than were cows without uterine disease. In all treatment groups, plasma glucose concentration increased and serum beta-hydroxybutyric acid and urine acetoacetate concentrations decreased following treatment. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In this study, treatment of ketosis in dairy cattle with a corticosteriod alone was less efficacious than treatment with glucose and a corticosteroid.

Over 3 months, yeasts were isolated in pure culture from milk samples obtained from 8 lactating cows with acute mastitis and from 1 cow with subacute mastitis. Eight of the isolates were identified as Candida krusei; 1 isolate was not submitted for identification. The affected cows were assigned to separate milking groups and had not been treated by intramammary administration of antibiotic before the outbreak. Remission of disease without treatment was observed, followed by shedding of the yeast in milk for 2 to 5 weeks. Median somatic cell counts in the affected cows before, during, and 2 months after the onset of clinical signs were 93,000; 1,793,000; and 135,000 cells/ml, respectively. Wheat silage was found to be the probable source of the infecting microorganism, whereas inadequate milking hygiene resulted in its persistence in the herd. Following replacement of the silage and improvement of the milking hygiene, the outbreak ceased. Candida krusei thus may cause mastitis in cattle not only following intramammary antibiotic treatment, but also in conditions of heavy environmental contamination, in conjunction with inadequate milking hygiene.

The efficacy of ketoprofen in the treatment of acute clinical mastitis was evaluated in a clinical trial comprising a non-blind controlled study and a blind, placebo-controlled study. All the cows were treated with 20 g sulphadiazine and 4 g trimethoprim intramuscularly upon diagnosis, and half the dosage was given once daily thereafter. In addition, the ketoprofen treatment groups received 2 g ketoprofen intramuscularly once daily for the duration of the antimicrobial therapy. Recovery rates for the non-blind contemporary controls and the blind placebo-controls were 83.7 per cent and 70.7 per cent, respectively. In the non-blind controlled ketoprofen and the placebo-controlled ketoprofen treatment groups, recovery rates were 94.7 per cent and 92.3 per cent, respectively. The odds ratio (OR) of recovery was significantly (P < or = 0.01) high in the placebo-controlled study (OR = 6.75, confidence interval [CI] = 1.45 to 31.4), and high but not significant in the non-blind controlled study (OR = 2.64, CI = 0.53 to 13.10). It was concluded that ketoprofen significantly improved recovery in clinical mastitis in dairy cows.

An outbreak of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in an Israeli dairy herd appeared in four clinical forms: cutaneous, mastitic, visceral and a mixed form. Only cows were affected and susceptibility increased with age. Most cases occurred during a short period in the summer months. The total morbidity rate was 13.7 per cent involving 41 cows. Thirty cows were affected by the cutaneous form, five by the mastitic form, four by the mastitic and cutaneous forms, one by the mastitic and visceral forms and one by the visceral form. The cutaneous form appeared as one or two pyogranulomatous lesions affecting the body or head. Subclinical to severe clinical mastitis was found in the mastitic form. In the visceral form the upper and lower respiratory system were affected by multiple purulent lymphadenitis. All the cutaneous lesions recovered irrespective of treatment. Mastitis did not respond to treatment and severely affected milk production in most cases. All the isolates of C pseudotuberculosis were nitrate reductase negative. Most isolates were sensitive to norfloxacin, cephalothin, methicillin, kanamycin and furazolidone and resistant to ampicillin, lincomycin and neomycin.