Occurrence of mycoplasmas in geese affected with inflammation of the cloaca and phallus

Abstract

The spread of inflammation of the cloaca and phallus in goose flocks was investigated. In the flocks surveyed, 57.5 to 71.8% of the initial gander stock and 39.8 to 100% of the replacement ganders were affected. Based on the results of several hundred attempts at mycoplasma isolation, a relationship was found between mycoplasma infection and the occurrence of inflammation of the cloaca and phallus in the flocks. Mycoplasmas were frequently isolated from the mucous membrane of the phallus, the pallic lymph, and the inner organs of ganders in the affected flocks, but not from birds in unaffected flocks. Two biochemically (glucose-splitting and arginine-hydrolysing) and three serologically distinct types of mycoplasmas have been isolated. One of them proved to be identical to strain 46, identified by J.M. Bradbury as M. cloacale, and two strains may represent new Mycoplasma species since they differ serologically from all previously known Mycoplasma spp. In the diseased flocks, the strain designated 1220 (8390) and the antibodies produced against it were of most frequent occurrence. At the peak of egg production, mycoplasmas were isolated from 92.1% of the phallic lymph samples, and 94.6% of the test sera were positive for antibodies to strain 1220 (8390).