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Short Communication: Outbreak of Nocardia neocaledoniensis Mastitis in an Italian Dairy Herd

G. Pisoni^*, C. Locatelli^*, L. Alborali, C. Rosignoli, S. Allodi, P. Riccaboni^*, V. Grieco^* and P. Moroni^*,1

^* Department of Veterinary Pathology, Hygiene and Public Health, University of Milan, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
Istituto Zooprofilattico of Lombardia and Emilia Romagna, Brescia 25100, Italy
Bovine Practitioner, Mantova 46030, Italy

¹ Corresponding author: paolo.moroni{at}unimi.it

Nocardia spp. are an uncommon cause of mastitis, and outbreaks have typically been reported in dairy farms with poor hygienic and management conditions. The outbreak described herein involved a dairy farm with 43 lactating cows that, after a long period with low bulk milk somatic cell counts (<180,000 cells/mL), experienced an increasing incidence of clinical mastitis with bulk milk somatic cell counts greater than 300,000 cells/mL. Fifteen mastitic quarters milk samples from 9 dairy cows were found to be infected by a member of the genus Nocardia, as identified on the basis of selected phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics. The isolates were confirmed as Nocardia neocaledoniensis by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Average quarter milk somatic cell count for infected udders was 863,057 cells/mL, significantly greater than the average value in noninfected quarters (189,710 cells/mL).

Key Words: Nocardia neocaledoniensis • mastitis • immunohistochemistry