[Etiology of mastitis in dairy cows in Slovakia during 1972-1974]

In the period from 1972 to 1974, veterinary institutes in Slovakia performed bacteriological examinations in 178,853 milk samples coming from 72,454 dairy cows. On an annual average, the number of examined samples was higher by 61% than in 1967-1971. Germs responsible for the inflammation of the mammary gland were found in the milk of 22.32% of the dairy cows. The following bacterial germs were represented: Streptococcus agalactiae - 15.77%, Staphylococcus aureus - 4.19%, other streptococci - 1.49%, E. coli - 0.18%, Klebsiella sp. - 0.23%, Corynebacterium pyogenes - 0.20%, other germs - 0.26%. The number of dairy cows having bacterial germs in their milk was found higher by 1.47% than in 1967-1971. The number of the findings of Streptococcus agalactiae was higher by 3.29% and that of Straphylococcus aureus by 1.15% than in the period from 1967 to 1971. The higher number of the findings of the bacterial causative agents responsible for mastitis was due, in particular, to the increased number of the findings of Streptococcus agalactiae in milk.