Treatment of bovine mastitis with houttuynin sodium bisulphate

Houttuynin sodium bisulphate (HSB), alpha hydroxyl-capryl-ethyl-sodium-sulphonate, is a product formed by reacting sodium bisulphate with houttuynin, which is obtained from a medicinal herb Houttuynia cordata Thunb. From HBS an aqueous intramammary solution was made for the treatment of bovine clinical mastitis. A total of 104 acute and subacute mastitis cases were randomly assigned into two groups with 52 cases in each group: 1. an HSB group in which 80 mg HSB was infused into an affected gland; and 2. a PS group in which intramammary administration of 800,000 i.u. penicillin G in combination with 1 g of streptomycin (PS) was conducted. The treatments were administered twice daily until the inflammatory signs were eliminated and mammary secretion became normal. In acute mastitis, 88.2% (15 of 17) were clinically cured and 52.9% (nine of 17) microbiologically cured by HSB; in the PS group, 90.0% (18 of 20) were clinically cured and 55.0% (11 of 20) microbiologically cured. In subacute cases, the clinical and microbiological cure rates were 94.3% (33 of 35) and 45.7% (16 of 35) respectively, in the HSB group; and in the PS group the clinical and microbiological cure rates were 93.7% (30 of 32) and 43.8% (14 of 32), respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between HSB and PS groups in the treatment of acute as well as subacute mastitis. In addition, an inhibitory effect was found on the growth of lactic streptococcus in the milk collected within 48 h of intramammary treatment with penicillin G in combination with streptomycin. However, for HSB, a mild inhibitory effect on lactic streptococci was detected in the milk within 12 h of treatment.