Contagious pathogens have very high costs for dairy herds, and they may have zoonotic and reverse-zoonotic potentials, and may contribute in spreading antimicrobial resistance. One of the most important risk factors for spreading these infections is milking, when liner contamination may transfer the pathogens from infected to healthy cows. There is no effective protocol for avoiding the transmission of infection out of the segregation of infected cows. Recently, the availability of elastomers including patented antimicrobial components in their formulations has opened the way to explore alternative methods to decrease infection risk. Two different types of elastomers (rubber and silicon) and 9 different receipts were challenged by three major mastitis pathogens (S. aureus, S. agalactiae, and E. coli). The results showed interesting and unexpected results. Indeed, for the first time to our knowledge, we have shown that basic rubber materials have intrinsic antimicrobial activity. Silicon elastomers did not exhibit the same levels of killing activity, although they did exhibit some antibacterial capacity. Generally, a significant decrease in bacterial survival curves was observed with the tested formulations. The results observed for the various products are likely due to the specific activity of the chemical components, as well as the diverse chemical reactions that occur during their production. The availability of new tools able to reduce the risks for the spread of infections and generally decrease the bacterial load at milking, would be an important step forward to achieve a higher global sustainability of dairy production from a One Health perspective.

Staphylococcus aureus are commensal bacteria present on skin and mucosae in both humans and animals, but they can also be found in food, water and in various environments. They are also considered a major pathogen having a great morbidity leading to a wide range of infections. They are included in the list of most virulent and antimicrobic resistant bacterial pathogens (ESKAPE, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis and faecium)) by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and S. aureus is part of the worldwide threat represented by the presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The outcomes of an epidemiological investigation on 26,430 S. aureus isolates from a global public database (NPDIB; NCBI Pathogen Detection Isolate Browser) support the evidence of significant differences in the distribution of isolates and ARGs (Antimicrobial Resistance Genes) clusters among geographical areas of origin and among sources of the isolates. Moreover, the ARGs cluster patterns suggest an association between the isolates from human and animal populations. This outcome and the large diffusion of the pathogens among human and animal populations support the importance of gaining information on the epidemiology of these infections with a One Health approach.

Several pathotypes of enteric E. coli have been identified. The group represented by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is of particular interest. Raw milk and raw milk products are significant sources of STEC infection in humans; therefore, identifying pathogens at the herd level is crucial for public health. Most national surveillance programs focus solely on raw milk and raw milk cheeses that are ready for retail sale, neglecting the possibility of evaluating the source of contamination directly at the beginning of the dairy chain. In order to assess the viability of new molecular methodologies applied to raw milk filters enabling the identification of the presence of STEC serotypes in milk production and apply the same methods to identify the presence of these pathogens in calf feces we analyzed, through a commercial real-time PCR assay, a total of 290 samples coming from 18 different dairy herds; 88 bulk tank milk (BTM), 104 raw milk filters (RMF) and 98 calves’ feces samples. In total 3.4% of BTM, 41.4% of RMF and 73.4% of calves’ feces tested positive for stx presence, supporting our hypothesis that BTM is not a suitable matrix to assess the STEC presence at herd level, underestimating it. Our conclusion is that the surveillance program needs critical and extensive improvements such as RMF and calves’ feces analysis implementation in order to be more efficient in detecting and preventing STEC infections. The epidemiology of these infections and the characteristics of the pathogen clearly show how a One Health approach will be pivotal to improve our capabilities to control the spread of these infections.