Clinical trials in bovine mastitis Use of nosodes for prevention

CHRISTOPHER DAY, MA, VETMB, MERCVS

The challenge when using homeeopathy for large animal veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom is how to overcome the problems set by large herds, loose housing and the relative unimportance to the enterprise of the individual animal. The emphasis in intensive livestock systems is on the performance of the entire enter- prise rather than the unique circumstances of the individual. A compromise exists in intensive dairy systems where it is well appreciated that each individual contrib- utes to the whole herd's final results. However, it is still difficult in practical terms to embark on the individual approach to a single medical case which homceopathy requires. Constitutional prescribing requires some very precise information not readily available or discernible since the loose-housed cow loses her identity to some extent in a large herd, at least so far as the outside observer or the unenlightened herdsman is concerned. Furthermore it is not welcomed if one suggests dosage regimes requiring individual attention to a cow for very long or for more than once daily. The problems set by the housing and management systems make such tasks very onerous. I am sure that when homceopathy has proven itself beyond all doubt as an effective form of therapy and there are enough practitioners proficient in its application in farm contexts, then this situation is bound to change, but until then the obstacles exist.

Accepting these obstacles and their present intractability, then, what openings exist to further the medical attention to these cows that homceopathy offers and the cause of homeeopathy into the bargain?

The opportunity is presented by the desperate need for, and the ease of admin- istration of, preventive medicine. To illustrate this point I would like to cite reports of several pilot studies which I have carried out, in the hope that the theme will be taken up by research workers. It is very difficult in a busy veterinary practice to find both the situation and the numbers to set up a really valid statistical trial, so the work reported here will reveal several weaknesses in this regard, but underlying trends appear too powerful to ignore them totally. I therefore present them not as incontestable statistical evidence but as what they are: Pilot studies showing great promise. Despite the obvious weaknesses of the studies from a statistical point of view, the results have gained a great number of adherents on the British farming and veterinary scenes, and its is possible to predict with confidence that more valuable work is bound to emerge soon.

Extended version of a paper read at the 40th LMHI Congress at Lyon in May 1985.

Volume 75, Number 1, January 1986 11

Study 1

This study does not il lustrate the use of the nosodes, but highlights a p robable physiological link between the stress of dystokia on the one hand and mastitis on the other, or a common physiological basis for several disease manifestat ions including both dystokia and mastitis (both hypotheses strange to the or thodox medical out look, but commonplace to homceopaths). A herd of Friesian dairy heifers was experiencing disastrous dystokia problems. From the beginning of the calving season, eighteen heifers had calved (Table 1). Then Caulophy l lum 30c t incture was added to the drinking water and the Seven remaining heifers were recorded as shown in Table 2, no other managementa l , nutri t ional or medical factors being altered.

VABLE 1 Dystokia problems of 18 untreated heifers

Calved 18 Requiring assistance 18 Calves died during birth 7 Caesars 1 Maternal casualties 3 P.P. metritis 10 P.P. mastitis 9

(too few)

(several months duration, including 2 casualties)

rABLF~ 2 Dystokia record for 7 heifers from the same herd treated with Caulophyllum 30c

Calved 7 Requiring assistance 2 Calves died 0 Caesars 0 Maternal casualties 0 P.P. metritis 4 P.P. mastitis 0

(token only, first two, 'out of habit')

(2 weeks duration only)

Study 2 (Using the nosodes for Streptococcus uberis, dysgalactiae, agalactia and E. Coli and Staph. aureus)

A herd of pedigree Friesian cows was randomly split into two groups of 41 cows for the purpose of this trial. There had been no historical difference in disease inci- dence between the two sides of the building or in the individuals in ei ther group. They were not split according to yield, age or calving date, for it was felt that this sort of division (usual in intensive UK dairy herds) could mater ial ly affect results. Two coded bott les were suppl ied to the farmer: A bott le of unmedica ted solvent (control) and a bot t le of C o m b i n e d mastitis nosode 30c t incture ( t reatment) . These were adminis tered to one or o ther group via the drinking water troughs. The results are shown in Table 3.

The one case in the t rea ted group had suffered ' summer mastit is ' in her dry per iod earl ier in the year in the same quar ter of her udder. She contracted the recorded case in the first few weeks of the t rea tment per iod before (it could be argued) the therapy had been given t ime to take effect.

12 The British Homoeopathie Journal

In t he c o n t r o l g r o u p seve ra l cows su f f e r ed r e p e a t e d a t t acks in the s a m e qua r t e r . Rev i sed re su l t s exc lud ing t he r e p e a t cases a re s h o w n in T a b l e 4,

Cell c o u n t s o n b u l k mi lk w e r e r e c o r d e d as a m e a s u r e of subc l in ica l mas t i t i s s t a tus of the h e r d ( T a b l e 5). T h e f a v o u r a b l e t r e n d in all p a r a m e t e r s m a k e s this s tudy ve ry wor thy of r e p e t i t i o n .

TABLE 3 Double blind trial with unmedicated solvent (control) and Combined mastitis nosode (treatment) in a herd affected with mastitis (winter 1983/4)

Control group Treatment group

Cases of mastitis 19 1 Average No. of quarters affected 1.16 1 Average severity (scored 1-3) 2.16 1 Average duration in days 4.5 4 %, of group affected 25 2.5

TABLE 4 Results of Table 3 revised to exclude repeat cases

Control group Treatment group

Cases of mastitis 10 1 Average No. of quarters affected 1.2 1 Average severity 2 1 Average duration in days 4.6 4 % of group affected 25 2-5

TAI3LE 5 Cell counts on bulk milk (same herd as in Tables 3 and 4)

Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

1982/83 No treatment n/a 316 326 378 362 296 516 608 598 1983/84 Treatment 263* 273* 199" 255* 193" 283? 352? 184? 374~

* Treatment given to 41 cows only. + Treatment given to whole herd.

Study 3

A p r o b l e m h e r d of F r i e s i an da i ry cows was c h o s e n as a ve ry seve re tes t of t he abi l i ty of t he n o s o d e to f a v o u r a b l y a f fec t a d i sease s i tua t ion . Hi s to r i ca l ly i n c i d e n c e of mas t i t i s h a d b e e n at a ve ry h igh , u n a c c e p t a b l e leve l for t h e e n t i r e r e c o r d e d life of the he rd . Cel l c o u n t s h a d r u n in t he r e g i o n of 1 ,000,000, and b o t h p a r a m e t e r s h a d p r o v e d i n t r a c t a b l e to all m a n n e r of m a n a g e m e n t a n d med ica l con t ro l m e a s u r e s ,

Volume 75, Number 1, January 1986 13

calling in all available advisory bodies to assist. It was finally decided, in order to limit the spread of mastitis in the herd, to separate the high risk cows from the low risk ones. There were now too many high risk cows to cull, so they were housed in a broken-down cubicle house away from the good cows. They were identified by individual cell counting, mastitis history, age, conformation, and included all the cows which habitually rejected cubicles and chose to lie in the dung channels.

The good group was left untreated and to the bad group we gave the nosode inthe drinking water.

Mastitis incidence and cell count figures have shown a decline in both groups. The good group was expected to improve once the high risk cows had been removed, but the bad group would not normally be expected to improve. It has however shown more rapid improvement than the good group (Table 6). Before treatment, there were three times as many cases in the bad group than in the good group. After treatment (but with the water troughs still frozen) the number of cases in the bad group had gone down to twice as many as in the good group. Sub- sequently, in the warmer weather, with water troughs unfrozen, the bad group had 75% as many cases as the good group. There was a larger number of cows in the good group, but the trend is clear. The cell count was falling rapidly in the bad group until there was an upsurge in both groups in late March (Table 7).

~ABLE 6 Results o f treating group of cows with high risk o f mastitis with Combined mastitis nosode compared to untreated low risk group (winter 1984/85, different herd from Tables 3-5)

Low risk High risk n = 80 n = 50

Before treatment 13 38 (approximately x3) After treatment (frost) 11 24 (approximately x2) After treatment (no frost) 20 15 (x0.75)

TABLE 7 Cell counts for herd in Table 6

Date Low risk High risk

14Dec 84 553 1,259 2 Jan 85 464 960

13 Jan 85 485 856 13Mar 85 558 788 24Mar 85 736 971 24Mar 85 736 971

14 The British Hom~eopathic Journal