Shockwave Therapy Improves Recovery and Milk Yield in Mastitis-Affected Cows
Title of Study: New Treatment Option for Clinical and Subclinical Mastitis in Dairy Cows Using Acoustic Pulse Technology (APT)
Authors: Gabriel Leitner, Eduard Papirov, Dan Gilad, Doron Haran, Oded Arkin, Alon Zuckerman, and Yaniv Lavon
This study evaluated the effectiveness of Acoustic Pulse Technology (APT), also known as shockwave therapy, in treating mastitis in dairy cows. Researchers observed 118 test subjects with subclinical mastitis and 118 test subjects with clinical mastitis, comparing their outcomes with untreated and antibiotic-treated controls, respectively.
For the test subjects with subclinical mastitis, those treated with APT showed a recovery rate of 65.5%, compared to 35.6% in the untreated group. Recovery was measured by a decrease in somatic cell count (SCC), an indicator of infection. Additionally, cows treated with APT produced 2.74 more liters of milk per day than untreated test subjects, and none of the treated test subjects required culling, while 5.1% of untreated test subjects were culled.
In test subjects with clinical mastitis, APT-treated animals achieved a 67.8% recovery rate, while antibiotic-treated controls recovered at a rate of only 35.6%. APT-treated cows also demonstrated a significant reduction in culling rates (6.8%) compared to the antibiotic group (32.2%) and produced an additional 3.9 liters of milk per day. The bacteriological analysis showed that APT treatment was especially effective against Escherichia coli infections, with an 85.7% recovery rate versus 17.6% in the antibiotic-treated group. For the test subjects infected with streptococcal bacteria, APT treatment led to a 66% recovery rate compared to 44.4% for those given antibiotics.
Overall, this study indicates that APT can improve recovery, reduce culling rates, and increase milk yield in cows with mastitis, showing potential as an effective alternative to antibiotics in dairy herd management.