Antibiotic treatment of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in domestic sheep (Ovis aries) : Working at the livestock-wildlife interface in Yukon, Canada

Domestic sheep can carry the bacterium in their upper respiratory tract, often with little effect on health and productivity. However, for bighorn sheep populations, there is a link between infection and pneumonia, poor lamb recruitment, and high fatality rate. Because of these outcomes, preventing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian veterinary journal 2023-12, Vol.64 (12), p.1114-1118
Main Authors: Magnusson, Kristenn, Harms, N Jane, Thompson, Michelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Wild
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Canada - epidemiology
Enrofloxacin - therapeutic use
Goat Diseases
Goats - microbiology
Livestock
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae
Pneumonia - veterinary
Pneumonia, Mycoplasma - drug therapy
Pneumonia, Mycoplasma - epidemiology
Pneumonia, Mycoplasma - veterinary
Scientific
Sheep
Sheep Diseases - drug therapy
Sheep Diseases - epidemiology
Sheep Diseases - prevention & control
Sheep, Bighorn - microbiology
Sheep, Domestic
Yukon Territory
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Summary:Domestic sheep can carry the bacterium in their upper respiratory tract, often with little effect on health and productivity. However, for bighorn sheep populations, there is a link between infection and pneumonia, poor lamb recruitment, and high fatality rate. Because of these outcomes, preventing transmission of to free-ranging wild sheep has garnered interest from both the livestock and wildlife sectors. We hypothesized that treatment with intranasal and systemic enrofloxacin would reduce the prevalence of -positive animals in a flock of domestic sheep. Initially, the prevalence decreased in the treated group; but by 34 d post-treatment, the number of -positive sheep returned to near pretreatment prevalence. Key clinical message: Test-and-slaughter is a method used to reduce the risk of transmission of pneumonia-causing from domestic sheep and goats to free-ranging wild sheep. In an effort to find an alternative, we used enrofloxacin to treat a flock of -positive domestic sheep; however, long-term reduction of prevalence in the flock was not achieved.
ISSN:0008-5286