Carrier status of mycoplasmoses in the apparently healthy pigs of India

Mycoplasma is an emerging bacterial pathogen confronting global swine industry. The carrier pigs play major role in the transmission of disease to the naïve population. The carrier status of Mycoplasmoses in clinically healthy (live and slaughtered) pigs of India is not known and needs to be investigated for its effective control. A total of 494 morbid tissues (palatine tonsil and lungs) and 508 nasal swabs collected from the apparently healthy slaughtered and live pigs respectively, were screened by PCR for prevalence of Mycoplasma and its species. The prevalence of Mycoplasma genus was 43.92% and 53.74% in slaughtered and live pigs respectively. The palatine tonsils showed higher carrier rate (26.72%) as compared to lungs. Out of various spp, M. hyorhinis is prevalent as compared to others. The microscopic lesions of lymphoid aggregates in perivascular and peribronchiolar area of lungs, depleted lymphoid follicles in palatine tonsil with immunoreactivity of M. hyorhinis antigen in lungs and palatine tonsil confirm its presence in carrier pigs. The phylogenetic analysis showed close homology of our isolates with Israel isolate. The effective control and preventive measures should be adopted to contain the spread of M. hyorhinis.