ISOLATION AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MYCOPLASMA-MYCOIDES SUBSP MYCOIDES LC AND MYCOPLASMA-OVIPNEUMONIAE IN GOATS IN NORTHERN CAMEROON

Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides LC and Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae were isolated for the first time from a goat in northern Cameroon. Experimental inoculation with M. mycoides subsp. mycoides LC induced death in two inoculated goats with pneumonic, arthritic and mastitic symptoms, whilst Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae was not pathogenic despite its multiplication in the upper respiratory tract (nasal sinuses). Following a single inoculation in a goat with both isolates, the course of the disease was not significantly modified. Mycoplasmaemia and the presence of mycoplasma in the milk were investigated. Necropsy observations of infected animals included areas of pulmonary hepatization with macroscopic thickening of the interlobular septa in one goat, and invasion of the lung by numerous small abscesses with no macroscopic thickening of the interlobular septa in the other animal. In both cases, white fibrinous plaques were present in the thoracic cavity but no pleural fluid was observed. It is recommended to pay particular attention to the diagnosis of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides LC infection in an area where contagious bovine pleuropneumonia is endemic and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia is threatening.