Journal of Camel Practice and Research

Very little is known about mycoplasma infections in camelids and therefore comprehensive research is needed.

M. haemolamae which was formerly known as Haemobartonella and Eperythrozoon can cause severe disease in NWCs with anaemia, weight loss and depression. The newly classified bacterial species can also cause intrauterine infection of the foetus. Only PCR methods can distinguish between M. haemolamae and A. marginale infections. Haemotrophic mycoplasmas are transmitted by insect vectors. So far M. haemolamae has not been detected in OWCs but research is ongoing at CVRL to test dromedaries which suffer from unidentified anaemia and weight loss.

Several classical mycoplasmas have been isolated from dromedaries from different organs exhibiting lesions but it is not clear if these mycoplasmas were solely responsible for these changes. In NWCs no classical mycoplasmas have been isolated so far but antibodies to different known bovine and caprine strains have been reported.

In a recent respiratory disease outbreak in Iran which occurred during a cold spell in dromedaries, antibodies against Adenovirus and BRSV were found in connection with 4 different unidentified mycoplasmas. From these investigations it was hypothesised that classical mycoplasmas may disease camelids in connection with concurrent viral diseases.