title: Bacteriological survey of mammary secretions from prepartum heifers in a dairy herd with a high prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus infection.
abstract: This study was performed to examine the bacteriological findings in 58 mammary secretions from 15 heifers at 4-5 weeks before parturition, and to evaluate whether a high prevalence of S. aureus infection in lactating cows affects the occurrence of S. aureus infection in prepartum heifers in the dairy herd. A total of 86.7%(13/15) of the heifers and 60.3%(35/58) of quarter milk samples from the heifers were bacteriologically positive. No S. aureus isolate was detected in mammary secretions from the heifers. Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CNS) species were predominantly detected in 54.3%(19/35) and Streptococci other than Streptococcus agalactiae were isolated from 22.9%(8/35) of the quarters. A high S. aureus prevalence in the herd may not necessarily be a decisive factor for S. aureus infection in heifers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagahata
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maruta
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuhira
authors.forename: Hidetoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D005260:Female; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000382:microbiology*; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*