Phage typing of staphylococci isolated from dairy cows in New Zealand

Authors: Shannon AD, Elliott REW, Geernert EMR, Jones MAS, Midgley CO
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 20, Issue 5, pp 76-79, May 1972
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Cattle, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Bacterial, Diagnostic procedures, Mammary gland/udder, Mastitis, Infectious disease, Milk, Disease/defect
Article class: Scientific Article

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Abstract: Two nation-wide surveys have been conducted to determine the incidence of bacterial contamination of udders of dairy cows in New Zealand (Anon., 1958; Anon., 1967). The 1965-6 survey (Anon., 1967) indicated that 40% of the cows were shedding β-haemolytic staphylococci at the time of sampling and it was concluded that infection with β-haemolytic staphylococci was the most important single cause of mastitis in New Zealand. Staphylococci were isolated from 80% of the samples from cows with clinical mastitis encountered in the 1965-6 survey. There are many different strains of staphylococci and it is necessary to determine which of these are involved in udder infections. Bacteriophage typing has been used to subdivide the staphylococci infecting both man and cattle (Williams and Rippon, 1952; Davidson, 1961). In New Zealand, Marshall (1964) used a set of phages selected by Davidson (1961) and a set of human phages, to type a number of staphylococci from three herds in Otago. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the typing of 459 isolates of staphylococci obtained in the above surveys. A wide selection of human and bovine phages were used in this typing to determine which of them would be most suitable for characterizing the staphylococci isolated.

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