Bovine mastitis in Ontario due to Mycoplasma agalactiae subsp. bovis

Bovine mastitis caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae subsp. bovis was first diagnosed in 16 of 55 cows in an Ontario herd in Feburary 1972. A total of 182 of 598 (30.4%) cows from 33 of 64 (51.5%) farms in widely separated areas of the province were culturally positive. Herd incidence varied from 15 to 40% with one closed herd having an incidence of 61%. Four herds were investigated culturally and serologically by the growth inhibition test for 15 months. In the acute phase the organism was present in the milk in extremely high numbers and could still be isolated from a few cows after eight to 12 months. The sera from 89.5% of the animals with clinical mycoplasma mastitis produced a zone of surface "film" and/or colony inhibition and some cows remained positive for six to 12 months. The disease was experimentally reproduced with a pure culture of the organism isolated from the milk of a cow from one of the herds.