Browsing by Subject "Mycoplasma"

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    Epidemiological and clinical description of Candidatus Mycoplasma haemosuis, an emerging pathogen in pigs
    (2023) Ade, Julia; Hölzle, Ludwig
    Candidatus Mycoplasma haemosuis is an emerging pathogen infecting pigs. It belongs to the group of uncultivable hemotrophic mycoplasmas. This group includes other long-known porcine representatives, i. e. Mycoplasma parvum und Mycoplasma suis. M. suis is the causative agent of infectious porcine anemia (IAP), a disease of great economic importance to the pig industry. Previously, Ca. M. haemosuis was only described in China, South Korea and Thailand, with no knowledge of its occurrence outside Asia or of its general clinical and economic importance in general. The present work investigates the occurrence of the novel hemotrophic bacterium and its clinical importance in Germany for the first time. For this, a quantitative real-time PCR was first successfully developed for the detection of Ca. M. haemosuis in pigs. The SYBR® Green-based PCR amplifies a 177-bp fragment of the Ca. M. haemosuis gap, which encodes the NAD-dependent glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Using this PCR, Ca. M. haemosuis was detected in a total of seven pigs during an acute clinical disease in May 2017. This represents the first detailed description of a disease induced by Ca. M. haemosuis and the first detection of this novel HM species outside of Asia. In a further study, the newly established PCR was used to comprehensively investigate the occurrence of Ca. M. haemosuis in clinically healthy animals of different age groups in Southern Germany. Ca. M. haemosuis was prevalent in 6.25% of the sows (n=208), in 4.50% of the piglets (n=622), in 17.50% of the pigs (n=200), and in 0.00% of the breeding boars (n=183). By sampling the piglets immediately after birth and prior to the first colostrum uptake, the possibility of a vertical transmission of Ca. M. haemosuis was also determined within this thesis. Since 76.92% of the Ca. M. haemosuis positive sows gave birth to at least one Ca. M. haemosuis positive piglet, a vertical transmission is regarded as very likely. HMs are known to be transmitted blood-dependent and thus, transmitted iatrogenic or via wounds from animal to animal. The detection of M. suis in blood-free excretions such as saliva, urine, nasal, and vaginal secretions from experimentally infected animals has initiated the discussion of additional, blood-independent transmission routes. Saliva (n=148) and urine samples (n=47) were also collected from the sows examined by blood sampling, semen samples (n=183) were also obtained from the examined boars and applied to Ca. M. haemosuis qPCR. The pathogen was not detected in any of the saliva, urine, or semen samples. On the one hand, this demonstrates the lack of suitability of blood-free sample materials for diagnostics; on the other hand, it highlights the blood-dependent transmission pathways known to date and thus strengthens the potential to limit infections through strict hygiene measures during veterinary procedures and through the control of bloodsucking arthropods. In conclusion, based on the newly established qPCR assay for the sensitive and specific detection of Ca. M. haemosuis, the present work provides the first clinical and epidemiological description of the emerging hemotrophic pathogen in pigs. Further, the qPCR assay will be the basis for future studies regarding the epidemiology as well as the clinical relevance and pathogenesis of Ca. M. haemosuis -infections in pigs.