IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENTIATION OF STREPTOCOCCUS AGALACTIAE AND NOT AGALACTIAE IN THE MASTITIS/IMPORTANCIA DA DIFERENCIACAO DOS STREPTOCOCCUS AGALACTIAE E NAO AGALACTIAE NAS MASTITES/IMPORTANCIA DE LA DIFERENCIACION DE STREPTOCOCCUS AGALACTIAE Y NO AGALACTIAE EN LA MASTITIS

Milk is an essential food for all age groups. Mastitis is an infectious process with multiple etiologies, involving environmental and contagious microorganisms. Streptococci belonging to a group of micro-organisms of different types and degrees of pathogenicity and virulence. Streptococcus agalactiae is a contagious pathogen, therefore, adapted to survival in internal mammary gland. Environmental Streptococcus are considered opportunistic because once they invade the mammary gland, they cannot adapt inside it, causing an immediate inflammatory response with short-term infection. Despite the differentiation of contagious and environmental pathogens it is necessary to evaluate other factors such as profile of the occurrence of CCS, occurrence of clinical mastitis, research of risk factors, and the results of microbiological tests with the characterization of the causative agents. Milk samples positive in California Mastitis Test(n = 123) were cultured in blood agar media and MacConkey agar media for 72 hours, at 37[degrees] C, with observation every 24 hours in the phenotypic characteristics of the colonies such as size, pigment production, hemolysis, such as Gram and catalase test to differentiate between Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Suspect colonies were picked in BHI for biochemical tests, CAMP test, sodium hippurate hydrolysis and hydrolysis of esculin. They were isolated 36 strains of Streptococcus spp., being 91.7% Streptococcus agalactiae, 5,6% Streptococcus dysgalactiae and 2.7% Streptococcus uberis. Keywords: environmental, mastitis, characterization, biochemical tests. 0 leite e um alimento imprescindivel para todas as faixas etarias. A mastite e um processo infeccioso de multipla etiologia, com envolvimento de micro-organismos contagiosos e ambientais. Os estreptococos pertencem a um grupo de patogenos com diferentes especies, e graus de patogenicidade e virulencia. Streptococcus agalactiae e um patogeno contagioso, portanto, adaptado a sobrevivencia interna na glandula mamaria. Os estreptococcos ambientais sao considerados oportunistas, pois, apos invasao da glandula mamaria, nao se adaptam em seu interior, causando resposta inflamatoria imediata com infeccao de curta duracao. Apesar da diferenciacao entre patogenos contagiosos e ambientais, e necessaria a avaliacao de outros fatores como: perfil da ocorrencia da CCS, ocorrencia de mastite clinica, pesquisa dos fatores de risco, e os resultados dos exames microbiologicos com a caracterizacao