Method for detection of bacteria in milk

[0024]Mastitis results in an increased amount of bacteria per weight or volume unit of milk. The bacteria may be counted by the flow cytometer principle by use of fluorescence technique.

[0025]Fluorescence technique means in this case that the bacteria are combined (and thus, reacted) with a suitably stained antibody and the combination is passed through a flow cell where under the influence of fluorescence light, the individual cells combined with the antibodies give a light pulse. The number of light pulses is detected and is in correlation with the number of bacterial cells.

[0026]There are several groups of bacteria causing mastitis. The invention is based on the fact that specific antibodies only bind to specific types of bacteria. With this data it is possible to identify different bacteria by the use of different antibodies.

[0027]It is possible to use a single type of antibody, to detect and measure the concentration of basically a single type of bacterium. However, since there wi