A Novel Dry Cow Therapy

Bovine mastitis is a major economic loss for the dairy industry and indirectly a human hazard because treatment selects for antibiotic resistant bacteria. We propose to develop an novel anti-microbial therapy for dry cow mastitis based on Nisin that would break farmer's dependence on antibiotics that are currently used to treat human disease. Nisin is a potent bacterocin that has been safely used as a food preservative and has GRAS status for certain applications. Preliminary data suggests that Nisin may be effective for the treatment of mastitis in lactating cows. This proposal would extend that observation to the much larger market of dry cow therapy. Our Nisin based product would have three characteristics. First, it would be a highly effective treatment for dry cow mastitis. Second, it would be inherently safe for human consumption and thus raise minimal food residue concerns. Third, it would replace antibiotics that are known to select for resistance to Class I and II antibiotics used to treat human disease and therefore not contribute to the problem of antibiotic resistance.