Abstract

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It has been established that bovine mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus is still a serious threat to dairy industry globally. Consumption of raw milk from the mastitic milk has been identified as a major source of public health issues in the developing nations. This study therefore was aimed at phenotypic characterization of S. aureus isolates from cases of bovine mastitis using both traditional, conventional and serological techniques. A total of 339 milk samples were collected from 98 cows at quarter level and analyzed for subclinical mastitis by California Mastitis Test (CMT). The CMT positive samples were bacteriologically analyzed following standard procedures for the isolation of S. aureus. Further identification and strain typing was done using Staphytect Slide Agglutination Test System and Microbact Staphylococcal 12S Identification System kits. Of the 339 samples analyzed, 30.9% were identified as subclinical mastitis. Moreover, 103(98.1%) of them harbored Staphylococcus species. Also out of the 40 randomly selected isolates that were strain typed, 39 (97.5%) were confirmed as S. aureus and 1 (2.5%) was S. hyicus and all the 40 isolates were coagulase positive. This study concludes that there is high prevalence of S. aureus in the mastitic milk samples studied and this poses a potential health threat not only to public health and safety of the consumers but also to the general public. It also identifies that that a reliable, rapid identification and strain typing of Staphylococcus species by both traditional, conventional and serological techniques provides a cornerstone for the control of S. aureus mastitis

Keywords: Mastitis, bovines, Staphylococcus aureus, Milk.