UK survey reveals M. bovis present across all regions

The results of a new Mycoplasma bovis surveillance programme indicate the disease is more widespread in beef and dairy herds than previously thought.

The results, from vet practices across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, show that M. bovis is present in every region.

Graeme Fowlie, the director of Meadows Vets in Aberdeenshire, said he had suspected the disease was more prevalent for several years.

“From working with vets across the country taking part in the surveillance programme, it’s become clear that is the case,” he added.

“It is probably present in your area, so you should be aware of it.”

M. bovis causes pneumonia, mastitis, swelling, sore joints and otitis, and is also likely responsible for a range of chronic underlying health issues which have a significant impact on welfare and productivity.

However, it can be easily detected through bulk milk serology testing.

As part of the surveillance programme, vets were offered free M. bovis tests, regardless of whether herds were exhibiting signs of disease or not, and of the 41 farms from across the UK taking part, 18 tested positive, six were inconclusive or void, and 17 were negative.

But the results also revealed that some types of analysis were more sensitive than others.

Of the 25 blood tests, 52% were positive while 20% were inconclusive and 28% were negative – despite the fact that eight of those negative/inconclusive results were from farms with symptomatic animals.

An interesting result was that the five bulk milk serology tests all came back positive. The 11 PCR tests – mainly of bulk milk samples – failed to show a single positive result.

Ben Pedley, farm clinical director at Willows Farm Vets, Cheshire, said: “In the past two years we have found M. bovis on a number of farms after PCR testing lung samples taken postmortem from pneumonia cases. Since diagnosing the infection, calf pneumonia on these units has been greatly reduced via changes including specific vaccination programmes for mycoplasma.”

Meadows Vets have found similar results to this study, said Mr Fowlie. “We have been using blood tests on calves over five months old to screen herds. Dairies could also be screened via bulk milk serology. Sick animals can be identified with PCR testing of either nasal swabs, post mortem material, joint fluid or milk samples.”

Since he started using these tests two years ago,

Mr Fowlie has returned more positive samples than in the previous 20 years. He said: “We are suspicious some of these would have been false negative results when using traditional bacterial culture testing, which we know is less sensitive.

“One of the biggest problems with M. bovis is that it’s very hard to treat – it doesn’t respond to many common antibiotics, so prevention is much better than cure.

“That means screening herds via blood/bulk milk serology testing and PCR testing of sick animals/ post-mortem samples to confirm the presence of the disease initially, and having confidence in those results.

“As a result, it’s then important to adopt stringent biosecurity measures with careful herd management changes and vaccination where appropriate.

“Vets can now prescribe a multi-strain vaccine in the UK under the Cascade system. When this is combined with appropriate testing, it will enable farmers to take a proactive and informed approach to disease management of the herd.”

Free testing will be available to vets across the UK again this winter.

WARNING: Aberdeenshire vet Graeme Fowlie is urging farmers to be aware of M. bovis in beef and dairy herds after it was found to be present in every region.