Respiratory Disease and the Incidence of Pulmonary Mycoplasmosis in Intensively-Reared Calves in Italy

During 1975, 1976 and the first 4 months of 1977, the pulmonary incidence of mycoplasma spp. in veal calves was surveyed in 42 Italian farms rearing a total of more than 100 000 calves per year. Mycoplasmas were recovered from 392 of the 534 specimens collected (73.40%), of which 277 isolates were identified as comprising Mycoplasma agalactiae subsp. bovis (54.21%), M. bovigenitalium (7.45%), M. arginini (3.98%), M. alkalescens (1.87%), M. bovirhinis (0.8%), Leach’s Group 7 (0.8%), and Acholeplasma laidlawii (0.8%): 115 isolates could not be identified.