Mycoplasma
Cervid Solutions
Originally appeared in the January 2019 Issue of the Upper Midwest Cervid Newsletter
What is it?
What symptoms are typically seen in Cervid?
How is it spread?
Points to Remember
Originally appeared in the January 2019 Issue of the Upper Midwest Cervid Newsletter
What is it?
- Mycoplasmas are a group of very small bacteria which have unusual characteristics making them different from most other bacteria.
- Mycoplasma bacteria have special defense mechanisms that make it challenging to diagnose and treat.
- It lacks a cell wall so that certain widely used antibiotics are not effective because most antibiotics attack the cell wall.
- It also has the ability to hide away from the immune system so that infections are difficult to fight.
- Mycoplasma has the ability to create conditions that allow evasion from antibiotic treatment.
- Mycoplasma is a bacterium that can cause pneumonia, arthritis, reproductive problems, and middle inner ear infections.
What symptoms are typically seen in Cervid?
- Mycoplasma bovis does not cause disease in humans. Studies have mostly been on cattle but in a study in 2003 in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases a farmed cervid facility found mycoplasma bovis in fawns with severe respiratory disease resulting in death.
- This bacterium has been more prevalent in the deer industry recently.
How is it spread?
- Mycoplasma is spread from one deer to another (or from cattle to deer) through repeated contact over short distances.
- The agent can also shed from infected animals through eyes, nose, vagina, rectum, semen and milk.
- Animals do not need to be showing signs of sickness for it to spread.
- Mycoplasma bovis has been found to survive up to 6 months at 40 degrees Fahrenheit in laboratory conditions, 20 days in straw and over 2 weeks in water. Even in cold water the organism can survive 1 to 2 weeks on bedding and in water.
- Pneumonia, especially pneumonia that is resistant to treatment
- Slight clear nasal discharge
- Puffing out of cheeks when breathing
- Dry cough with neck extended down and out from the body
- Elevated body temp.
- Ear Infections
- Ear drop on one side or the other
- Head tilt and possible facial paralysis
- Joint Infections
- Lameness
- Often a sign of mycoplasma is pneumonia accompanied by lameness, unresponsive to antibiotics
- Do not keep cattle and deer together, mycoplasma is very common in cattle and can be spread from cattle to deer
- Don’t feed poor quality hay or feed. Animals with poor nutrition are known to be more susceptible to disease.
- Minimize stress on your deer or elk.
- Quarantine new animals for 30 days before introducing them to your herd and vaccinate before transferring them in.
- Introduce and maintain a vaccination protocol.
Points to Remember
- Mycoplasma bacteria lack a cell wall and therefore are not easily treated by antibiotics
- In Cervid, Mycoplasma mostly cause Pneumonia
- Mycoplasma can survive varying temperatures and longer periods of time in the environment
- This bacteria is spread from animal to animal
- Vaccination is your best defense to Mycoplasma, Pneu-Vac 2 covers the Mycoplasma bacterin
