Abstract

A cross sectional study of camel mastitis was conducted on 384 lactating camels from Jijiga between November 2011 to April 2012 to estimate the prevalence and causes of mastitis, as well the risk factors involved on disease. Prevalence of mastitis was assessed by using California mastitis test (CMT). An overall prevalence of camel mastitis was found to be 30.2% (116/384) out of which, 4.9% (19/384), 25.3% (97) were clinical and sub-clinical mastitis, respectively. The overall quarter level prevalence was 25.8% (397/1536). There was significant (P<0.05) in prevalence between camels with teat lesion, tick infestation, parity or age to mastitis than those without these factors. Microbiological examination of 174 randomly selected CMT positive milk samples from clinical quarters, revealed that the majority of the isolates were coagulase negative Staphylococci (39.6%), followed by Streptococcus dysagalactiae (22.2%), Corynebacteria spp. (9%), Bacillus spp. (7.6%),Streptococcus uberis (7.6%), Escherichia coli (6.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (4.2%) and Streptococcus agalactiae (3.5%). The prevalence of camel mastitis in the study area was found to be significantly high. Therefore, implementation of integrated approaches has great importance in the study sites for the prevention and control of mastitis hence minimizing economic loss and prevents significant public health risks.

Key words: Camel, prevalence, lactating, mastitis, Jijiga.