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The microbiology and treatment of human mastitis

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Abstract

Mastitis, which is generally described as an inflammation of breast tissue, is a common and debilitating disease which frequently results in the cessation of exclusive breastfeeding and affects up to 33% of lactating women. The condition is a primary cause of decreased milk production and results in organoleptic and nutritional alterations in milk quality. Recent studies employing culture-independent techniques, including metagenomic sequencing, have revealed a loss of bacterial diversity in the microbiome of mastitic milk samples compared to healthy milk samples. In those infected, the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and members of corynebacteria have been identified as the predominant etiological agents in acute, subacute and granulomatous mastitis, respectively. The increased incidence of antibiotic resistance in the causative species is also a key cause of concern for treatment of the disease, thus leading to the need to develop novel therapies. In this respect, probiotics and bacteriocins have revealed potential as alternative treatments.

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Fig. 1

(Fig. 1c is reproduced from Patel et al. [20] which is licensed under the creative commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by APC Microbiome Ireland, a Centre for Science and Technology (CSET) funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), grant number SFI/12/RC/2273, Toddlerfood (14/F/821) and Infamilk (15/F/721) projects funded through the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

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AA drafted the manuscript. DF, AR, CS, CH and PR revised and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to R. Paul Ross.

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Angelopoulou, A., Field, D., Ryan, C.A. et al. The microbiology and treatment of human mastitis. Med Microbiol Immunol 207, 83–94 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00430-017-0532-z

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