Milk culture is the gold standard for detection of intramam­mary infections (IMI) in dairy cows. Somatic cell count (SCC) is widely used for diagnosing subclinical mastitis, but its predic­tive value for detecting IMI is limited. Differential SCC (DSCC) provides information about the changes in the relative abun­dance of different cell types during the inflammatory response and is a potential alternative for the identification of quarters with IMI. However, its ability to detect IMI is unclear and re­quires further investigation. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the predictive value of DSCC in the identifica­tion of quarters with IMI.