Mycoplasma bovis arthritis and pneumonia in calves in Jordan: An emerging disease

Abstract

Aim: Clinical, microbiological, molecular, and pathological assays were undertaken to characterize an outbreak of increasingly reported signs of unresponsive arthritis and pneumonia of Mycoplasma bovis infection in young calves in Jordan. Materials and Methods: Clinical history of the affected bovine herd was investigated for the presence of respiratory and/ or joint problems. Two calves with such history were clinically examined and necropsied. Representative tissues were sent for microbiological, molecular, and pathological examinations for M. bovis infection. Results: The outbreak started in a herd of 220 nursing calves, 2 months before the receiving of two calves for postmortem examination. Clinically, respiratory signs and infection of one or more joints dominated in the affected calves. The morbidity and case fatality rates were 27.27% and 61.7%, respectively. The left carpal joint was markedly swollen in both calves and exhibited necrofibrinous to granulomatous arthritis in varying degrees of severity. The anteroventral lung lobes in both calves were consistently affected and revealed multifocal to coalescing severe necrogranulomatous and fibrinopurulent bronchopneumonia. Microbiological and molecular findings confirmed the pathological examination. Furthermore, bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) was diagnosed in one calf by histopathology and polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion: This investigation reports the first outbreak of M. bovis infection in calves located in Jordan that could occur concurrently with BVD.