Mycoplasma bovis Infections in Free-Ranging Pronghorn, Wyoming, USA

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.