The influence of anti-inflammatory therapy on bacterial clearance following intramammary Escherichia coli challenge in goats.

Coliform mastitis in dairy cattle frequently results in systemic disease with occasional deaths in association with endotoxic shock. Systemic anti-inflammatory therapy has been used to alter the course of endotoxic shock in severe cases. Use of anti-inflammatory therapy has been questioned on the basis that such treatment may compromise immune function and decrease clearance of bacteria from infected mammary glands. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether anti-inflammatory therapy influenced bacterial clearance following intramammary challenge of lactating goats with Escherichia coli. Standardized quantities of a pathogenic coliform culture were infused through the teat canal into one half of the mammary gland in 18 goat does. The does were then randomly assigned to receive one of three intravenous treatments: saline (controls), one dose of steroid (dexamethasone), or two doses of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent (flunixin meglumine). The clinical signs, milk production, complete blood counts, serum clinical chemistry values, milk bacterial cultures and milk somatic cell concentrations were monitored sequentially. Goats treated with anti-inflammatory agents exhibited some improvement in clinical response to challenge with E. coli (e.g. rectal temperature, degree of appetite suppression) as compared to saline controls. There were no significant differences between treatments in the degree of inflammation present in the mammary glands or supramammary lymph nodes examined at necropsy. The most important finding was that anti-inflammatory therapy did not adversely influence the clearance of E. coli from challenged glands.