Absence of strictly age-related resistance to Mycoplasma hyosynoviae infection in 6-week-old pigs.
Mycoplasma hyosynoviae has never been reported to cause arthritis in pigs younger than 10 weeks of age. In order to investigate whether a strict age-related resistance exists, four 6-week-old pigs and four 13-week-old pigs, all immunologically naïve with respect to M. hyosynoviae, were inoculated intranasally with the agent and autopsied at day 11 or 13 after infection. One uninoculated pig per age group was included as a negative control. Just as the 13-week-old pigs, the 6-week-old piglets were susceptible to blood, joint and tonsillar infection with M. hyosynoviae and developed clinical arthritis following inoculation with the agent. Thus, we found no evidence of an age-related resistance to the infection.
Department of Veterinary Diagnostics and Research, National Veterinary Institute, The Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. ktla@vet.dtu.dk
Klara Tølbøll
KT
Lauritsen
Tine
T
Hagedorn-Olsen
Niels Filskov
NF
Friis
Peter
P
Lind
Gregers
G
Jungersen
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D045791:Mycoplasma hyosynoviae / Q000276:immunology*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology