Virulence factors and ability of staphylococci from bovine milk and the cowshed environment to biofilm formation.

The aim of this study was to examine virulence factors and the ability of S. aureus and CNS species isolated from milk of cows with mastitis to form biofilm, and to compare them with virulence factors of staphylococci from milk of cows without mastitis and cowshed environment. Most of S. aureus strains from cows with mastitis showed haemolytic activity (93.9%), among them 72.7% and 21.2% produced alpha- and beta-haemolysin, respectively. S. aureus from cows with mastitis symptoms produced proteases (above 48%) and esterase (42.4%). The highly significant relationship between the number of S. xylosus strains producing haemolysins (62%) and the origin of these strains from milk of cows with mastitis was observed. The ability to produce proteases was significantly associated with S. sciuri from milk of cows with mastitis. The ability of biofilm formation by staphylococcal strains from milk of cows with mastitis was greater than in strains from milk of cows without mastitis and the difference was significant (p < or = 0.05). The highest percentage of strains from milk of cows with mastitis were weak biofilm formers (48.6%), while 40% and 11.4% of strains were moderate and strong biofilm producers, respectively. S. xylosus showed the highest ability to form biofilm, while the lowest ability to form biofilm was observed in S. aureus and S. epidermidis. In conclusion, production of exotoxins and enzymes, and ability of biofilm formation shown by many CNS isolated from milk of cows with mastitis symptoms indicates that these features are important in pathogenesis of this disease.