Experimental bovine group-B streptococcal mastitis induced by strains of human and bovine origin.

Intramammary infections with Group-B streptococci of human and bovine origin were produced experimentally in cows. The initial cytological response was more rapid to the human than to the bovine strain (Table I), while at later stages the pathological changes induced by the two infections were much the same (Fig. 1). The initial clinical reaction was more acute to the "human" than to the "bovine" infections and the average daily loss of milk was greater in cases of "human" infection than in cases of "bovine" infection (Table II). In contrast to the "bovine" infections the "human" infections showed a pronounced tendency to spontaneous clearance. The rate of excretion of Group-B streptococci with the milk was lower for the "human" than for the "bovine" infections (Table III). The special mode of reaction of the bovine udder against infections with Group-B streptococci of human origin may, in part, explain why such infections have a lower tendency to spread within a herd than infections with bovine strains of B-streptococci.