Toxic bovine mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus in twin cows

In this report, we describe two cases of bovine toxic mastitis associated with S. aureus and we provide DNA microarray based characterization data of the strain causing the disease. Both cows had recently calved and suffered from anorexia, pyrexia, and an elevated heart rate. In both animals, at least one mammary gland was swollen, hardened, sensitive to touch, and produced brownish or bloody secretions. The clinical state of the animals deteriorated quickly and both cows had to be euthanized within 48 hours after presentation. The S. aureus strain, which was isolated from the mastitis milk of both cows, was assigned to spa type t267, agr type I, capsule type 5 and CC97, a clonal complex recently identified as the evolutionary origin of two emerging clones of human epidemic community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The strain did not harbour any genes conferring resistance to antimicrobial agents and we did not detect any genes coding for enterotoxins, toxic shock syndrome toxin, or exfoliative toxins. Taking into consideration that twin cows were affected by this rare disease, we suggest that host factors may play a crucial role in toxic mastitis associated with S. aureus.