Making Antibiotic Treatment Decisions for Clinical Mastitis

Treatment of bovine mastitis is the most common reason that antibiotics are used for adult dairy cows. Although antibiotics are essential to treat severe cases of clinical mastitis, using antibiotics to treat many cases of nonsevere clinical mastitis does not result in improved bacteriologic or clinical outcomes. Mastitis treatment protocols should be pathogen specific; no antimicrobial therapy is recommended for many culture-negative or gram-negative cases when detected. Before withholding antibiotic therapy, it is important to assess the ability of affected cows to mount a successful immune response. When the immune system is compromised, antimicrobial therapy may be recommended.