Isolation and Characteristics of Bacteriophages for Staphylococci of Bovine Mastitis.

Although numerous reports on bacteriophages for staphylococci of human origin have appeared, none could be found regarding phages active against staphylococci from bovine sources. This laboratory has been concerned with various phases of bovine mastitis, hence it was of interest to investigate the occurrence and role of bacteriophage in staphylococcal mastitis. While this type of mastitis is probably not as prevalent as streptococcal mastitis, staphylococci do produce both acute and chronic forms of the disease. This paper reports the results of experiments regarding the isolation of staphylococcus bacteriophages from milk and the morphology, specificity and potency thereof as compared to phages from human sources. Consideration is also given to the use of phage for the classification of staphylococci and for the treatment of mastitis.