Response of Turkeys to Experimental Infection with Mycoplasma synoviae

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SUMMARY Mycoplasma-free turkey poults were inoculated with Mycoplasma synoviae via air sac (AS) or intravenously (IV), and representative numbers were necropsied 7, 14, 21, and 28 days postinoculation (PI). The organism was isolated consistently from the trachea and sporadically from the sinus at each period from AS birds, and less often from IV birds. Clinical signs or lesions did not always accompany these isolations. Airsacculitis was observed in the AS group at 7 days PI; the air sacs were thickened and their lumen contained nonadherent whitish-yellow exudate. The lesions remained localized and were beginning to resolve at 21 days PI. Sequential microscopic changes were similar to those described for other pathogenic avian mycoplasma except that giant-cell formation occurred during the repair phase. The organism was isolated consistently from the diseased air sacs but only during the early stages of lesion development (7 to 21 days). Gross lesions of the internal organs were observed in both groups, though organs (spleen and kidney) with lesions yielded the organism consistently only in the IV group during the first 14 days PI. Isolations from sternal bursal and joint lesions were sporadic but could still be made as late as 28 days PI. Clinical signs and gross lesions were similar to those described in chickens, though reticular cell hyperplasia of the internal organs was not as extensive or prominent as described in chickens.