Isolation of Bacillus subtilis in connection with bovine mastitis

Bacillus subtilis has only seldom been associated with pathological conditions in mammals. As the organism is considered to be ubiquitous in the environment, care has to be taken not to put too much emphasis on the pathogenicity of the organism, even in cases where it is isolated in pure culture. Bacillus subtilis was isolated from 17 cases of bovine mastitis in which it was considered to be the etiological factor.