Mycoplasma bovis Infection with Enzootic Pneumonia Symptoms in a Beef Cattle Farm

This clinical observation aimed to attract the attention of clinician veterinarians that the mycoplasma infection causes important economic losses due to chronic bronchopneumonia symptoms in beef cattle. The animal materials (with enzootic calf pneumonia recognised by clinical diagnosis) comprised of 15 beef bulls indifferent breeds and ages. A necropsy in 3 beef cattle, slaughtered compulsorily due to not healing in spite of implemented treatment, was performed immediately after the slaughter. Macroscopically, the cranio-ventral pulmonary lobes were markedly consolidated. There was pleural thickening and interlober adhesion. The cross-sections of affected lobes had a marble appearance due to randomly distributed, multifocal caseo-necrotic foci, in yellow-white colour. The lung samples were inoculated into general-purpose medium and modified Hayflick medium. There was no growth in the general-purpose medium for Pasteurella spp. and Mannhaemia spp, however a growth was seen in the latter medium. Positive results were detected for both Mycoplasma genus-specific PCR and M. bovis specific primers. Consequently, M. bovis infections should be considered, by clinician veterinarians, as the primary pathogen in chronic unresponsive pneumonia found in feedlot cattle. Further, treatments must include long-term antibiotic administration, and surelythe early diagnose is important in the treatment.