Mycoplasmas and respiratory disease in pheasants and partridges

Abstract

Pheasants and partridges with signs of upper respiratory disease were cultured for mycoplasmas and were also examined for Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae using commercial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits. Sixty-two incidents of disease were investigated in pheasants and 12 in partridges. M. gallisepticum was detected by culture in only four and three incidents in pheasants and partridges, respectively, but with PCR a further 15 M. gallisepticum-positive incidents were detected in pheasants and another five in partridges. Several fast-growing Mycoplasma species, in particular Mycoplasma glycophilum, Mycoplasma gallinaceum and Mycoplasma pullorum, were isolated frequently and were thought to be impeding the isolation of M. gallisepticum by outgrowing it. Samples yielding M. gallisepticum isolates contained significantly fewer "contaminating" species and were exclusively from specimens submitted as whole heads rather than as swabs or as cultures from other laboratories. M. synoviae was not isolated and was detected in only one specimen by PCR.