Vaccines against bovine mastitis due to Streptococcus uberis current status and future prospects

The prevalence of bovine mastitis in the UK has been reduced over the past twenty five years due to the implementation of a five-point control plan aimed at reducing exposure, duration and transmission of intramammary infections by bacteria. This has markedly reduced the incidence of bovine mastitis caused by bacteria which show a contagious route of transmission but has had little effect on the incidence of mastitis due to bacteria which infect the gland from an environmental reservoir. Streptococcus uberis is one such bacterium which is responsible for a significant proportion of clinical mastitis worldwide. The inadequacies of the current methods of mastitis control have led to the search for additional measures to prevent intramammary infection by this bacterium. A live vaccine in combination with an intramammary administration of a soluble cell surface extract was shown to induce protection of the mammary gland from experimental challenge with S. uberis. Protection was strain specific, but was achieved in the absence of opsonic activity and without a large influx of neutrophils. One hypothesis is that protection was achieved by reducing the rate of bacterial growth in vivo. This view has led to the identification and exploitation of a novel plasminogen activator as a vaccine antigen. Vaccines containing this antigen conferred cross strain protection.