Of apparently healthy 43 local breed chickens (
Gallus gallus var.
domesticus) widely distributed in the South Kyushu district, mycoplasma was isolated from the conjunctivae (6/15: 40%), nasal mucosa (5/16: 31.3%), oropharynxes (32/43: 74.4%), tracheae (8/21: 38.1%), airsacs (1/9: 11.1%) and cloacae (5/9: 55.6%), but not from 5 samples of the oviduct. A total of 94 strain clones of the isolates were identified as
Acholeplasma laidlawii (6 clones),
Ureaplasma gallorale (6),
Mycoplasma gallinarum (26),
M iners (1),
M. gallisepticum (9),
M synoviae (2),
M. pullorum (18),
M glycophilum (1), while the remaining 25 were unable to identify. In SPF White Leghorn chickens intratracheally inoculated with an
M.gallisepticum isolate, airsacculitis and tracheitis were developed.
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