Research Article Prevalence, Isolation, Identification, and Risk Factors of Major Bacterial Cause of Camel Subclinical Mastitis Atnaf Alebie , 1 Alemante Molla, 2 Wesinew Adugna, 3 Abebe Tesfaye , 4 and Mebrat Ejo 4 1 School of Veterinary Medicine, Wollo University, P.O. Box 1145, Dessie, Ethiopia 2 School of Veterinary Medicine, Welaita Sodo University, P.O. Box 138, Welaita Sodo, Ethiopia 3 Microbiology Department, Semera Regional Veterinary Laboratory, P.O. Box 33, Semera, Afar, Ethiopia 4 College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Gondar, P.O. Box 196, Gondar, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Atnaf Alebie; atnafalebie4@gmail.com Received 22 February 2021; Revised 9 June 2021; Accepted 25 June 2021; Published 2 July 2021 Academic Editor: Maria Bayliak Copyright © 2021 Atnaf Alebie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. A crosssectional study was conducted between September 2015 and August 2016 in the district of Afar Regional State, Northeastern Ethiopia, to characterize the most prevalent bacterial pathogens and identify the associated risk factors of camel subclinical mastitis. California mastitis test (CMT) was used as a screening test, and standard bacteriological methods were carried out for isolation and identification of the pathogens. Results. Among the total 96 lactating camels examined, 25 were found positive with the overall prevalence of 26%, with 25% and 1% subclinical and clinical mastitis cases, respectively. Totally, 384 quarters of udder were examined; of these, 10 of them were blind while the rest 374 were nonblind teats. The quarter level prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 8.9%. The analysis showed that statistically significant difference (P <0:05) of tick infestation and subclinical mastitis. Additionally, among the bacteriologically tested 34 CMT positive milk samples, all of them showed growth on nutrient and blood agar plate. Out of these culture isolates, the major bacterial pathogens identified were Staphylococcus aureus (8.7%), Staphylococcus hyicus (6.52%), Staphylococcus intermedius (6.52), Coagulase-negative staphylococci (19.57%), Bacillus (19.57%), Escherichia coli (6.52%), and Pasteurella multocida (6.52%) species. Therefore, appropriate control measures and awareness creation to the community should be practiced. 1. Introduction The dromedary camel (Camelus dromedaries) is a multipur- pose animal kept for milk, meat production, and transporta- tion. It is also a financial reserve for pastoralists and plays an important role in social prestige and wealth [1]. Despite its entire significant role, until recently, they were neglected by researchers and development planners in Ethiopia. Research agendas, promotion programs, regular vaccination, and ani- mal health service deliveries are almost always excluding camels. Hence, little is known about their health problems compared to other livestock [2]. Mastitis is a complex disease occurring worldwide among dairy animals with heavy economic losses [3, 4]. It has also mul- tiple hazardous effects on human health. As for other dairy ani- mals, dromedary camel could be affected by mastitis, and subclinical mastitis is more prevalent than clinical mastitis [5]. The causative agents of camel mastitis are not well defined and studied [4]. However, few available literatures indicate that the major bacterial pathogens isolated from subclinical mastitis were Staphylococcus, E. coli, Corynebacte- rium, Streptococcus, Bacillus, and Micrococcus species [6, 7]. Moreover, according to Abdurahman [8] report, subclinical mastitis is not usually treated in traditionally managed camels and will often take a natural course to chronicity resulting in permanent loss of milk production. Numerous epidemiological reports have implicated non- heat treated milk and raw-milk products as the major factors responsible for illnesses [9–11], Hence, zoonotic risk arising from this milk should be considered [12]. However, in Afar region in general and in Dubti district in particular, there is scarcity of information on camel mastitis. In the district, greater than 90% of the population is pastoralist, and tradi- tional heat treatment of camel milk is a taboo, so the milk Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2021, Article ID 5522331, 6 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5522331