Mastitis is a multi etiopathogenic inflammation of mammary gland affecting dairy cows. It is also considered to be an economically important disease of dairy industries around the world. The agent that causes the disease varies with climate, geographical area and also the animal husbandry practices that are employed. The common intervention in such situations is the use of antibiotics to control the infection and choice also varies based on the symptoms and causative agent.

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Mastitis has been documented as one of the major causes of antibiotic use in dairy cows and also leading to residues in milk. Resistance of mastitis pathogens to antimicrobial agents is a well-documented challenge and treatment failure in mastitis is due to indiscriminate use of antibiotics without testing in vitro sensitivity. Monitoring of antibiotic resistance is needed not only for effective treatment and control of mastitis but for reducing the threat posed for human health too.

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It is not a routine practice to perform a antibiotic sensitivity test as the facilities are not available testing the milk samples are not available at all the places. In addition, the current testing method to select the right antibiotic involves pre-enrichment of the samples followed by antibiotics sensitivity testing. Thus the testing for the selection of the appropriate antibiotic to be used requires more than 48 h and requires a perfect laboratory set up.