Phage typing of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated in Sweden from bovine milk.

Both the human and the bovine international sets of phages were used for typing of 372 bovine Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) strains, whereas the bovine set alone was used for typing of a further 1183 strains. In addition, 338 of the strains were tested for antibiotic sensitivity. Out of 372 Sa strains 85.5% could be typed with the human and 89.8% with the bovine phage set. Of all the 1555 Sa strains used 92.4% were lysed by the bovine phage set. Several phage types can be present in one and the same herd and some of them can predominate. Resistance to most of the tested antibiotics was very low. The incidence of resistance to penicillin and ampicillin was 10.0% and 4.4% respectively.