Clinical and subclinical mastitis (SCM), mostly related to intramammary infection (IMI), is prevalent in pastoralist camel herds. An IMI has implications for public and animal health as well as for household economy. As bacterial culturing is expensive, time consuming and impractical in a pastoralist setting, other early detection methods for SCM in camels need to be investigated. Somatic cell count (SCC) is the standard for detecting SCM in cattle. The udder health indicators of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity are useful as diagnostic markers in cow, sheep and goat milk; they could be of potential use in camel milk production. The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of SCM in camels, and specifically to assess SCC, and NAGase- and LDH activity in camel milk. In addition, potential associations between SCM (defined by a California Mastitis Test (CMT) score ≥3 and no signs of clinical mastitis) and SCC, NAGase- and LDH activity were investigated.

In total, 40 healthy camels without clinical mastitis were sampled in four herds in Kenya. Quarter milk samples were collected aseptically and screened using CMT. SCC was analysed using a direct cell counter (DCC, DeLaval), and NAGase and LDH activity was analysed using kinetic fluorometric measures.

In total, 116 milk samples were tested with CMT and analysed for SCC. Of these, 88 were analysed further for NAGase and LDH. The median SCC was 151,000 cells/mL (IQR: 49,500–709,000 cells/mL), and median NAGase and LDH were 18.5 U/l (IQR:14.8–24.0 U/l) and 12.0 U/l (IQR: 8.5–16.2 U/l) respectively. All inflammatory markers (SCC, NAGase, LDH) were significantly associated with SCM (P < 0.001). In conclusion, SCC, NAGase and LDH are potential inflammatory indicators in camel milk that can be used for detection of udder quarters with SCM.

临床和亚临床乳腺炎 (SCM)，主要与乳房内感染 (IMI) 相关，在牧民骆驼群中很普遍。IMI 对公共和动物健康以及家庭经济都有影响。由于在牧民环境中细菌培养昂贵、耗时且不切实际，因此需要研究骆驼 SCM 的其他早期检测方法。体细胞计数 (SCC) 是检测牛 SCM 的标准。N-乙酰-β-D-氨基葡萄糖苷酶 (NAGase) 和乳酸脱氢酶 (LDH) 活性的乳房健康指标可用作牛奶、绵羊和山羊奶的诊断标志物；它们可能在骆驼奶生产中具有潜在用途。本研究的目的是提高对骆驼 SCM 的理解，特别是评估骆驼奶中的 SCC、NAGase-和 LDH 活性。此外，

在肯尼亚的四个牛群中，总共抽取了 40 头没有临床乳腺炎的健康骆驼样本。在无菌条件下收集四分之一牛奶样品并使用 CMT 进行筛选。使用直接细胞计数器（DCC，DeLaval）分析 SCC，并使用动力学荧光测量分析 NAGase 和 LDH 活性。

总共使用 CMT 测试了 116 个牛奶样品并分析了 SCC。其中，88 个进一步分析了 NAGase 和 LDH。SCC 中位数为 151,000 个细胞/mL（IQR：49,500-709,000 个细胞/mL），NAGase 和 LDH 中位数为 18.5 U/l（IQR：14.8-24.0 U/l）和 12.0 U/l（IQR：8.5-16.2） U/l) 分别。所有炎症标志物（SCC、NAGase、LDH）均与 SCM 显着相关（P < 0.001）。总之，SCC、NAGase和LDH是骆驼奶中潜在的炎症指标，可用于SCM检测乳房。