Mastitis of Sheep - Overview of Recent Literature

Mastitis is by definition, inflammation of the mammary gland. Inflammation is most commonly due to infection with a pathogen (intramammary infection or IMI) but may also be due to injury and less commonly due to allergy and neoplasm. If inflammation is present without a detectable IMI, it may be that the udder was injured, it is recovering from an infection that has self-cured, the infection is not due to a bacteria, or that the sampling and culturing technique was faulty. The literature varies considerable in what is considered to be pathogenic level of inflammation or significant infection with a pathogen. However, if IMI and / or presence of inflammation adversely affects the level of production or the quality of milk products, then it is significant to the sheep industry.