Management strategies to decrease the prevalence of mastitis caused by onestrain of Staphylococcus aureus in a dairy herd

The detection of a single highly transmissible strain of Staphylococcus aur eus that evaded routine contagious mastitis pathogen control procedures sug gests that there may be differences in transmissibility and susceptibility between strains of S aureus isolated from the udders of cows. Routine contagious mastitis pathogen control procedures may be insufficient for prevention of outbreaks of mastitis caused by a single highly transmis sible strain of S aureus. Strict segregation, intensified culling of cattle infected with S aureus, a nd therapeutic cessation of lactation of mammary quarters infected with S a ureus, combined with strict hygiene at the time of milking, appear to be us eful in decreasing the prevalence and incidence of highly transmissible str ains of S aureus.