Experimental infection of the conjunctival sac of lambs with Mycoplasma conjunctivae.

Ovine keratoconjunctivitis (OKC) identical to that seen in field cases was produced experimentally with 10(6) colony forming units of an isolate of Mycoplasma conjunctivae which had been passaged three times in vitro. Cytological studies showed that the peak neutrophil count in conjunctival exudate occurred 8 days after inoculation of the conjunctival sac. Rapid onset of clinical signs in the uninoculated eye showed the ease with which the organism could be transferred from affected to unaffected eyes.