[The use of the Auto-Microbic-System (AMS) for mastitis diagnosis in cattle]

In the period of January 1987 to March 1988 15,800 quarter milk samples of dairy cows from problem herds in Lower Austria were collected and 744 streptococci strains isolated. For the classification of those 744 isolates a comparative evaluation was carried out by means of the Auto-Microbic-System (AMS), API 20 STREP and CAMP-Test. With the AMS, 360 (= 48.4%) of the 744 isolates examined could be identified as streptococci and classified as follows: 16 Sc. agalactiae; 205 Enterococci (101 Sc. faecalis, 92 Sc. faecium, 12 Sc. avium); 74 Sc. uberis; 61 Sc. of the viridans streptococci and 4 Sc. pneumoniae. The test systems showed a correlation of 91.6%. AMS and API 20 STREP could classify 4 CAMP-negative streptococci strains to Sc. agalactiae. Based on these examinations the AMS can be recommended for the identification and classification of mastitis streptococci. It can be concluded that AMS is simple to use due to the automatic cycle, and is time saving because results can be obtained between 5 to 6 hours. On the other hand, AMS requires expensive equipment.