ISOLATION OF YEASTS FROM BOVINE-MILK IN BELGIUM

A total of 436 milk samples from non-infected and 80 from infected qua rters were investigated: 24.5% of the samples collected from non-infec ted and 55% of those collected from infected quarters were positive. N ormal milk yielded not less than 16 different species and among them m any potentially pathogenic yeast species such as C. parapsilosis, C. g uilliermondii, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and T. asahii, all five able to grow at 40 degrees C. In contrast, the yeasts isolated from infect ed quarters were from 3 species : C. kefyr, C. catenulata and C. lambi ca, which were also among the yeasts species recovered from normal mil k. Among the three species, only one i.e. Candida kefyr is able to gro w above 40 degrees C and from there can be considered as potentially p athogenic, even if bacterial association is necessary to cause mastiti s.