Diagnostic methods of subclinical mastitis in bovine milk: an overview

Bovine mastitis is defined as inflammation of the udder caused mainly by bacterial pathogens and depending on the degree of inflammation it is classified as subclinical and clinical. Particularly in the subclinical form, there are no alterations in milk, udder or animal, but it does affect its components, impairing its use in the dairy industry, and leading to significant economic losses due to discard and decrease in production. Therefore, the detection of subclinical mastitis is based on field and laboratory tests. Currently, there are several methods, mostly based on the measurement of somatic cells present in milk because of the inflammatory process. In this paper, an approach is made on the different methods of detection of subclinical mastitis in milk from conventional or traditional to alternative methods with greater precision.