Transgenic approaches to mastitis.
2008
Maga, E. A.
Mastitis is an important disease affecting the dairy industry both in terms of animal welfare and the costs associated with treating the illness. Many mastitis prevention procedures are in place such as teat dipping, line cleaning and dry cow antibiotic treatments, yet mastitis is still common in most herds. The use of antibiotics to treat infected cows also poses concerns of having antibiotic residues in milk and the development of antibiotic resistance. In fact, one of the major mastitis-causing pathogens, <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>, is resistant to treatment. To date, efforts have been focused on producing vaccines to combat mastitis but have yet to be successful. Another approach to fight mastitis is the use of genetic engineering to produce antimicrobial compounds in the mammary gland. Work along this line has been going on since the early 1990s, starting in mouse models and leading to the report of the production of transgenic cattle resistant to <i>S. aureus</i> mastitis in 2005. This review will focus on the past and present works conducted with transgenic animals and their potential and hurdles as a novel approach to fight mastitis.
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