Isolation of ureaplasmas from poultry and experimental infection in chickens.
Ureaplasmas were isolated from the oropharynxes of 47 of 247 (19 per cent) Leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) and from five Japanese bantams but none was isolated from the oropharynx or cloaca of other poultry comprising 10 Japanese game, 75 common quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica), 17 turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and 10 guinea fowls (Numida galeata). In apparently healthy chickens, ureaplasmas were found at various sites, including the conjunctiva, nasal cavity, oropharynx, upper and lower tracheas, but not from the air sac, lungs, yolk, oviduct, urine or cloaca. All the isolates were antigenically similar but had no serological relation to those isolated from man, monkey, cattle, goat, sheep, dog and cat. In chickens experimentally infected with an avian ureaplasma, the organisms infected the oropharynx and nasal cavity but none of the birds inoculated demonstrated any clinical signs or macroscopic lesions.
D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D003370:Coturnix / Q000382:microbiology; D011200:Poultry / Q000382:microbiology*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D014422:Turkeys / Q000382:microbiology; D014509:Ureaplasma / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*