Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in farmed whitetailed deer

• Main Authors: Elsmo, E., Highland, M., Darkow, B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association of Bovine Practitioners 2024
• Subjects: muskox
• Online Access: https://bovine-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/AABP/article/view/8956

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is an infectious cause of respiratory disease, previously assumed to cause disease only in members of the subfamily Caprinae (sheep, goats, muskox). This bacteri­um has sporadically been isolated from other species, including captive white-tailed deer (WTD); however, little is known about the incidence or significance of M. ovipneumoniae in this spe­cies. Chronic respiratory disease is a common problem in captive WTD, and due to the fastidious nature of M. ovipneumoniae, in­fections with this bacterium may be overlooked as a contributing factor. The objective of this study is to characterize the incidence of M. ovipneumoniae infection and its association with respira­tory disease in an intensively managed captive WTD herd. Ad­ditionally, future multi-locus and full genome sequence analyses will elucidate relatedness between M. ovipneumoniae isolates from WTD and other species.