<i>Mycoplasma bovis</i> Infections in Free-Ranging Pronghorn, Wyoming, USA
Jennifer L. Malmberg, Donal O’Toole, Terry E. Creekmore, Erika Peckham, Hally Killion, Madison Vance, Rebecca Ashley, M. P. Johnson, Christopher F Anderson, Marce Vasquez, Douglas J. Sandidge, Jim Mildenberger, Noah Hull, Daniel S. Bradway, Todd E. Cornish, Karen B. Register, Kerry S. Sondgeroth
Abstract
Mycoplasma bovis is 1 of several bacterial pathogens associated with pneumonia in cattle. Its role in pneumonia of free-ranging ungulates has not been established. Over a 3-month period in early 2019, »60 free-ranging pronghorn with signs of respiratory disease died in northeast Wyoming, USA. A consistent finding in submitted carcasses was severe fibrinosuppurative pleuropneumonia and detection of M. bovis by PCR and immunohistochemical analysis. Multilocus sequence typing of isolates from 4 animals revealed that all have a deletion in 1 of the target genes, adh-1. A retrospective survey by PCR and immunohistochemical analysis of paraffin-embedded lung from 20 pronghorn that died with and without pneumonia during 2007-2018 yielded negative results. These findings indicate that a distinct strain of M. bovis was associated with fatal pneumonia in this group of pronghorn.