The nasal mycoplasmal flora of healthy calves and cows.

The nasal mycoplasmal flora of 270 healthy cows from 27 herds in the Netherlands and 35 healthy calves from 7 of these herds was examined. Various methods for isolating mycoplasmas were compared. The prevalence of the various species was as follows: Ureaplasma diversum in 3 (9%) calves; Mycoplasma dispar in 14 (40%) calves; M. bovis in 1 (3%) calf; M. bovirhinis in 23 (66%) calves and 16 (6%) cows; M. bovoculi in 8 (23%) calves and 53 (20%) cows; M. canis in 1 (3%) calf; M. equirhinis in 2 (1%) cows; M. conjunctivae in 2 (1%) cows; Acholeplasma laidlawii in 1 (3%) calf and 3 (1%) cows; and A. axanthum in 7 (3%) cows. The noses of healthy calves were less frequently colonized by the pathogenic species U. diversum and contained fewer U. diversum and M. dispar organisms than the noses of pneumonic calves. We concluded that the mycoplasmal flora of calves and healthy cows was quite different and also that cows play only a minor role in the epidemiology of pathogenic mycoplasma species of calves in the Netherlands.