IMPORTÂNCIA DA DIFERENCIAÇÃO DOS STREPTOCOCCUS AGALACTIAE E NÃO AGALACTIAE NAS MASTITES

Abstract

Milk is an essential food for all age groups. Mastitis is an infectious process with multiple
etiologies, involving environmental and contagious microorganisms. Streptococci belonging
to a group of micro-organisms of different types and degrees of pathogenicity and virulence.
Streptococcus agalactiae is a contagious pathogen, therefore, adapted to survival in internal
mammary gland. Environmental Streptococcusare considered opportunistic because once they
invade the mammary gland, they cannot adapt inside it, causing an immediate inflammatory
response with short-term infection. Despite the differentiation of contagious andenvironmental pathogens it is necessary to evaluate other factors such as profile of the
occurrence of CCS, occurrence of clinical mastitis, research of risk factors, and the results of
microbiological tests with the characterization of the causative agents. Milk samples positive
in California Mastitis Test(n = 123) were cultured in blood agar media and MacConkey agar
media for 72 hours, at 37° C, with observation every 24 hours in the phenotypic
characteristics of the colonies such as size, pigment production , hemolysis, such as Gram and
catalase test to differentiate between Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Suspect colonies
were picked in BHI for biochemical tests, CAMP test, sodium hippurate hydrolysis and
hydrolysis of esculin. They were isolated 36 strains of Streptococcus spp., 91.7%
Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae 5.6% and 2.7% Streptococcus uberis.