The therapeutic outcomes of homeopathic and antibiotic treatment for bovine mastitis are hardly distinguishable

A recently conducted clinical study by researchers from the Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health at the University of Kassel in Germany investigated the efficacy of a treatment using classical homeopathic remedies

in cases of mild to moderate bovine mastitis (1), compared with antibiotic treatments and placebo. The study was financially supported by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

To reduce the use of antibiotics in organic livestock, EU regulations (2) require that homeopathic and herbal medicines be preferred where their therapeutic effect is appropriate for the species and the condition. The use of chemically synthesised allopathic medicines is only permitted under strict conditions if the use of homeopathic and herbal remedies would be inappropriate in that case.
Studies by research groups from the UK and Germany have shown that 34–51% of mastitis cases in dairy cows were treated with homeopathic remedies; however, only a small amount of documentation on the use of homeopathy as a treatment method for mastitis has been published to date.
In the most recent study, a total of 136 dairy cows with 147 affected udder quarters from four German herds were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. The cows were examined on days 0, 1, 2 and on days 7, 14, 28 and 56 after the initial infection to assess clinical symptoms. At the same time (except on days 1 and 2), milk samples were taken from the affected udder quarters for laboratory tests (bacteriology, cell count (3)) to assess bacteriological and cytological recovery. On days 28 and 56 there were no significant differences between the two therapies with respect to clinical outcomes and the proportion of completely cured cases (bacteriologically negative, n = 56). In cases of pathogen‑positive mastitis (n = 91) the cure rate between the homeopathically and antibiotic‑treated animals was practically the same after 4 and 8 weeks. However, the difference between the outcomes of homeopathic and placebo treatment was significant on day 56 (P < 0.05).
The authors therefore conclude that homeopathic treatment in cases of mild to moderate clinical mastitis represents an alternative to the use of antibiotics, since the study results demonstrated a corresponding therapeutic effect of the homeopathic treatment in these cases.

However, the overall cure rate remained low—irrespective of treatment method and bacteriological status—and thus shows the limited effectiveness of both therapeutic approaches for this condition, both antibiotic treatment and homeopathic remedies.

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Source:
Werner C, Sobiraj A, Sundrum A (2010). The efficacy of homeopathic treatment

(1) Udder inflammation
(2) European Union
(3) Somatic cell count - an assessment criterion for raw milk quality