Curcumin Compound to Treat Infection in Cattles

Context

• In a major breakthrough in creating immunity in cattle against infectious diseases including mastitis, researchers have successfully validated the immunomodulation ability of a natural phytochemical compound with curcumin as the active ingredient.
  • Mastitis is an infectious disease condition resulting in an inflammatory reaction in the mammary gland of the cow.

What is Curcumin?

• It is a yellow pigment found primarily in turmeric. It is a polyphenol with anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to increase the amount of antioxidants that the body produces.
• Research revealed that Curcumin offers immunity in dairy cattle against infectious diseases including mastitis by increasing complementary protein, Interferon, Immunoglobulin (IgM), lymphocytes and monocytes.
• The compound will create appropriate immunity and facilitate increased milk production by 10 percent.

Significance

• The economic loss due to mastitis in India exceeds ?13,000 crore annually. 
• No vaccination is available against mastitis. 
• Antibiotics have been used to manage various infections in cattle. However, it has been noticed that the uncontrolled use of antibiotics results in increased antibiotic resistance. 
• The irrational use of antibiotics for treating mastitis resulted in inter-species and inter-genus transfer of antibiotic resistance and creation of various multi-drug resistant microorganisms in the environment, which affects immunity of livestock and human health.

Source: TH