Journal of Veterinary Science, 2005; 6 (3): 213–221
The prevalence of mastitis, milk quality and health risks
associated with milk consumption were investigated on 96
randomly selected traditional herds in Dodoma rural and
Mvomero districts of Tanzania. Mastitis was investigated
based on clinical signs, microbiology and California
mastitis test (CMT), while milk quality was evaluated
using total viable count (TVC) and total coliform count
(TCC). Animals were tested for tuberculosis using a single
comparative intradermal tuberculin test. The prevalence
of subclinical mastitis based on CMT was low (8.3%). The
major isolates were Staphylococcus aureus (35.3%), other
staphylococci (20.8%), coliforms (27.7%), microcci (5.8%)
and streptococci (9.8%). The average TVC of milk in
Dodoma rural district (1.0 × 107± 3.4 × 107) was significantly
higher than that in Mvomero district (8.9 × 105± 3.5 × 106)
(p < 0.001) and the proportion of TCC-positive samples in
Dodoma (70.7%) were significantly higher (p < 0.001)
than that of Mvomero samples (20.8%). Whereas no
tuberculin reactor animal was detected in the study
animals, atypical mycobacteria were isolated from milk
and one sample from Dodoma had Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. Knowledge on health risks associated with
milk consumption was low (20.8%). It is concluded that
lack of awareness on health risks associated with milk
consumption amongst rural communities needs to be
addressed in order to safeguard their health.