Subject(s)
Arthritis/veterinary , Goat Diseases/epidemiology , Mycoplasma mycoides , Pleuropneumonia, Contagious/epidemiology , Animals , Arthritis/epidemiology , Arthritis/microbiology , Disease Outbreaks/veterinary , Female , Goat Diseases/transmission , Goats , Male , Pleuropneumonia, Contagious/transmission , Sicily/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Goats were infected experimentally with a mycoplasma (the "Irbid" strain) isolated previously from a goat with contagious agalactia in northern Jordan. The strain was unusual in that, although it had been identified by molecular methods as Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides LC/Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri, it showed no inhibition of growth by any of the hyperimmune rabbit antisera conventionally used to speciate members of the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster. Animals were infected either intratracheally or by aerosol and placed "in-contact" with other goats. After 2 weeks, those infected intratracheally became febrile, showing a nasal discharge and slight conjunctivitis, followed a week later by respiratory distress and polyarthritis; lesions seen at necropsy included coagulative necrotic pneumonia, fibrinous pleurisy with pleural exudate, and inflammatory exudates, necrosis and fibrosis in the joints. Animals infected by aerosol showed much milder clinical signs, including nasal discharge and occasional swollen joints. In the "in-contact" goats, seroconversion was first seen after 7 weeks, accompanied by coughing and laboured respiration; lesions in this group consisted of fibrinous pneumonia with focal areas of necrosis and abundant pleural exudate.
Subject(s)
Goat Diseases/microbiology , Mycoplasma mycoides/pathogenicity , Pleuropneumonia, Contagious/microbiology , Animals , Arthritis/microbiology , Arthritis/pathology , Arthritis/veterinary , Conjunctivitis/microbiology , Conjunctivitis/pathology , Conjunctivitis/veterinary , Fever/microbiology , Fever/pathology , Fever/veterinary , Fibrosis/microbiology , Fibrosis/pathology , Goat Diseases/pathology , Goat Diseases/transmission , Goats , Joints/microbiology , Joints/pathology , Mycoplasma mycoides/physiology , Necrosis/microbiology , Necrosis/pathology , Pleuropneumonia, Contagious/pathology , Pleuropneumonia, Contagious/transmission , RabbitsABSTRACT
Over the past few years the role of Mycoplasma F38 in contagious caprine pleuropneumonia has been confirmed in Sudan as well as in Kenya, and further disease outbreaks involving the subspecies of M. mycoides have also occurred in goats. Recent work on the epidemiology of some of the mycoplasmoses of goats has established that feeding of contaminated colostrum is a significant method of transmission of disease to kids. Standard tests for freedom from mycoplasma infection are urgently needed to assist regulatory authorities to permit movement of sheep, goats and cattle within and between countries, and there are indications that serological tests may not always be adequate. Measures to improve this situation are discussed.