Which criteria can be used to select antibiotic intramammary tubes for non-severe clinical mastitis therapy?

Abstract

The treatment of mastitis is one of the most frequent indications for antibiotic use in dairy cattle. Among the different manifestations of mastitis, non-severe clinical mastitis (CM) represents the majority of cases and thus accounts for a large proportion of antimicrobial consumption on dairy farms. While bacteriological cure (BC) is the primary measure of treatment success, no randomized controlled trials currently demonstrate significant differences in BC rates between the antibiotic intramammary injectors available in Germany. Consequently, the selection of an appropriate injector must be guided by other criteria. This article provides a structured, evidence-based overview of the most relevant decision criteria for the selection of antibiotic udder injectors for the treatment of non-severe CM, and presents a comparative economic analysis of all injectors with market relevance in Germany.
The criteria considered include the classification of active substances as critically important antimicrobials (according to EMA categorization), the resistance profile of mastitis pathogens, practical and operational factors (soft criteria), and economic calculations. For the economic analysis, direct costs were calculated for all 14 udder injectors listed in the Lila Liste, comprising medication costs, labor costs for application, and costs due to discarded milk during the withdrawal period.
Based on the available evidence, injectors containing non-critical active ingredients with short milk withdrawal times represent the most favorable choice under current regulatory and economic conditions. Soft criteria, such as once-daily application, are increasingly relevant on farms with external labor or automatic milking systems.