Review Article

The spread and antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus in South African dairy herds – A review

Joanne Karzis, Inge-Marie Petzer, Vinny Naidoo, Edward F. Donkin
Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research | Vol 88, No 1 | a1937 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v88i1.1937 | © 2021 Joanne Karzis, Inge-Marie Petzer, Vinny Naidoo, Edward F. Donkin | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 09 February 2021 | Published: 26 October 2021

About the author(s)

Joanne Karzis, Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Inge-Marie Petzer, Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Vinny Naidoo, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Edward F. Donkin, Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is internationally recognised as a principal agent of mastitis and the foremost reason for economic loss in the dairy industry. The limited data available on organism-specific antibiotic resistance surveillance in dairy cattle have stimulated the need for such a review article. The objective of this study was to review relevant literature on antimicrobial resistance of mastitis-causing staphylococci isolated from dairy cows in South Africa compared to other countries. Factors relating to the incidence of mastitis and treatment strategies in terms of the One Health concept and food security were included. The Web of Science (all databases) and relevant websites were used, and articles not written in English were excluded. The incidence of mastitis varied between South Africa and other countries. Antimicrobial resistance patterns caused by S. aureus also varied in regions within Southern Africa and those of other countries although some similarities were shown. Antimicrobial resistance differed between S. aureus bacteria that were maltose positive and negative (an emerging pathogen). The results highlighted the importance of the availability of organism-specific surveillance data of the incidence of mastitis and antibiotic resistance for specific countries and within similar climatic conditions. Accurate knowledge about whether a specific pathogen is resistant to an antibiotic within a certain climate, country, area or farm should reduce the incidence of unnecessary or incorrect treatment with antibiotics. This should enable dairy farmers to deal with these organisms in a more effective manner. Therefore such research should be ongoing.

Keywords

mastitis; economic loss; dairy; cattle; antibiotic; resistance

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Crossref Citations

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