Klebsiella species associated with bovine mastitis in Newfoundland.

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Authors: Milka P Podder, Laura Rogers, Peter K Daley, Greg P Keefe, Hugh G Whitney, Kapil Tahlan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
• Subjects: Medicine; R; Science; Q; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106518; https://doaj.org/article/ef88c6d637484cb4b0423b9fa9223c3e

Klebsiella spp. is a common cause of bovine mastitis, but information regarding its molecular epidemiology is lacking from many parts of the world. On using mass spectrometry and partial sequencing of the rpoB gene, it was found that over a one year study, K. variicola and Enterobacter cloacae were misidentified as K. pneumoniae in a small number of clinical mastitis (CM) cases from Newfoundland. Results suggest that the currently used standard biochemical/phenotypic tests lack the sensitivity required to accurately discriminate among the three mentioned Gram negative bacteria. In addition, a single strain of K. variicola was associated with CM from one farm in the study as demonstrated by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR. To the best of our knowledge, K. variicola, which is normally found in the environment, has not been isolated previously from milk obtained from cows with CM. Therefore, it is possible that K. variicola was not detected in milk samples in the past due to the inability of standard tests to discriminate it from other Klebsiella species.