Some Studies on Mycoplasma of Ostrich

Abdel Aziz, Doaa Sobhy; Mostafa, Magda M.A.; Abdelanaser, Amal H.T.; Eissa, Sabry Ismail; Ouda Ahmed, Sahar El-Sayed

doi:10.21608/ejvs.2025.361349.2657

Some Studies on Mycoplasma of Ostrich

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

² Mycoplasma Department, Animal Health Research Institute, ARC. Giza, 12618, Egypt

10.21608/ejvs.2025.361349.2657

Abstract

Mycoplasmas in ostriches are the primary causative agents of respiratory diseases, resulting in significant stock losses, reduced production and hatchability, and downgrading of carcasses, leading to substantial economic losses in the industry. The present study is considered the first record for the isolation of three Mycoplasma isolates from ostriches experiencing respiratory signs, arthritis, and conjunctivitis with identification accomplished through PCR using common Mycoplasma primers and 16SrRNAgene for sequencing. Ostriches between 5-6 months of age showed the highest prevalence of isolates with respiratory signs, arthritis, and conjunctivitis (90%), while those aged 12 months showed 60% prevalence. 90 tracheal and ocular dry swabs were examined for the presence of Mycoplasma infection, from an ostrich farm in AL Obour city in Egypt, where sheep were also being raised nearby. The extracted DNA from each swab were pooled in 18 groups, each consists of five pooled DNA samples. These groups were negative for Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae by PCR. The three sequenced 16SrRNAgenes represent strains from male, female and young age ostriches. They were submitted to GenBank under accession no. OR511890, OR511891 with96% similarity to M.struthionis, and M. falcons respectively. While, the isolate (OR 511889) showed high nucleotide identity (99%) for M. arginini. In conclusion, three new Mycoplasmas were isolated from Ostrich farm with respiratory manifestation for the first time in Egypt. Which is a foundation, for further studies on a large number of ostrich farms for a wide scale investigation and control programs.

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