Mycoplasma Bovis

[Nicky]

Haven't had any pulls for joints in the last several days. Now getting some respiratory cases, so far are responding to treatment. Jury is still out on the joint ones we've been treating.

 

[Older Whiskey]

Haven't had any pulls for joints in the last several days. Now getting some respiratory cases, so far are responding to treatment. Jury is still out on the joint ones we've been treating.

How did this all play out? Do the vets anticipate any reoccurrences or problems in future years? Were the effected ones that had to be killed, good to use for food, either human or canine?

 

[Older Whiskey]

@Nicky I was reading, an article by a vet, that Mycoplasma is common in cats, especially barn cats. This got me to wondering if outbreaks in cattle are caused by rodents contaminating hay? Maybe mice are the source of Mycoplasma for both livestock and cats.

 

[Nicky]

How did this all play out? Do the vets anticipate any reoccurrences or problems in future years? Were the effected ones that had to be killed, good to use for food, either human or canine?

It is ongoing. We got the last one in a 4 days ago. The ones we put down were only 4 -6 weeks old so just buried them. We've had 28 cases so far, 5 were respiratory, the rest were in the joints. It has everyone stumped as it is not acting like it normally does. Our local vets are less than helpful, except for our neighboring rancher who isn't practicing but is very helpful. We've been in touch with an awesome vet in MN who is very helpful and Zoetis is being helpful.

 

[Nicky]

@Nicky I was reading, an article by a vet, that Mycoplasma is common in cats, especially barn cats. This got me to wondering if outbreaks in cattle are caused by rodents contaminating hay? Maybe mice are the source of Mycoplasma for both livestock and cats.

I would be interested in reading that article, I haven't heard about that

 

[Older Whiskey]

I would be interested in reading that article, I haven't heard about that

There are several articles on Mycoplasma effecting cats. The writing I saw was an abstract based on several articles and concluded that in some cases when Mycoplasma was found in livestock, it was also found in the farms barn cats. They concluded that a possible source of transmission was by insects. Since many outbreaks are seen during winter feeding and insects aren't around, it occurred to me that maybe mice were the spreaders, not insects. Mycoplasma is not uncommon in feedlots where mice abound. Just a crazy thought that sticks in my old brain. It is probably meritless.

50 years ago, I worked with a ranch hand that got bit by a mouse in a haystack, contacted a crippling virus and pneumonia and was severely disabled for 20 years before pneumonia, from damaged lungs, finally killed him. The doctors speculated it was Hanta virus from a Deer Mouse. I think it fits Mycoplasma a lot closer than Hanta virus.

Do you have barn cats? If so, it would be interesting to get them tested.

 

[Faster horses]

There are several articles on Mycoplasma effecting cats. The writing I saw was an abstract based on several articles and concluded that in some cases when Mycoplasma was found in livestock, it was also found in the farms barn cats. They concluded that a possible source of transmission was by insects. Since many outbreaks are seen during winter feeding and insects aren't around, it occurred to me that maybe mice were the spreaders, not insects. Mycoplasma is not uncommon in feedlots where mice abound. Just a crazy thought that sticks in my old brain. It is probably meritless.

50 years ago, I worked with a ranch hand that got bit by a mouse in a haystack, contacted a crippling virus and pneumonia and was severely disabled for 20 years before pneumonia, from damaged lungs, finally killed him. The doctors speculated it was Hanta virus from a Deer Mouse. I think it fits Mycoplasma a lot closer than Hanta virus.

Do you have barn cats? If so, it would be interesting to get them tested.

I had a hard time believing Gene Hackman's wife died of Hantavirus. Could it have been Mycoplasma?

 

[Older Whiskey]

I had a hard time believing Gene Hackman's wife died of Hantavirus. Could it have been Mycoplasma?

Good question. His wife was a stickler for sanitation and so unless she was bitten by a mouse, it doesn't make sense. It isn't easy to contact from mouse urine, saliva, or feces. If it was, ranchers would have been extinct years ago. Since Mycoplasma is found in so many presentations, that is more likely. They say the dog starved to death. I wonder if it might have had the same thing as the wife. Very strange case for sure.

I never knew that Mycoplasma was so common. When I asked the vets about it, they said it was very common in outdoor cats. That agreed with what I found online. I then remembered years ago when they started building houses above me in formerly unirrigated pasture, the marmots moved into the backyards that bordered the former pasture. I was unaware of this invasion until I was headed out my backdoor and out of nowhere came this angry varmint making angry sounds and rearing up on my screen door. Scared the pee out of me.

I thought it was a dang beaver with rabies. Not willing to discharge my trusty old lever action Winchester 94, even with the homemade foam pipe insulator silencer, in "town," I called a friend, requesting she send her husband over with his crossbow.

"Help, an attempt was made on my life by an angry beaver."

He was unavailable, so I called the police and they gave me the only State Game Specialist in the areas number. He said do nothing as these varmints had bad fleas that spread diseases, one being Mycoplasma.

Long story made short, he came two days later. He loved to talk and after finding out I knew about Baker County wolves in the old days, at least an hour when by, my coffee pot near empty, before we addressed the Marmot situation. He hadn't had much sleep since he had been busy at Keating tracking and killing the wolf that had killed several sheep. That kind of work is usually night shift.

He set up his trap that I put in my last apple as bait. I thought it really nice of me to share my last apple with this assailant. After some carpentry work around my raised floored equipment shed, the varmint had but one way out and that was the trap.

After another two days and the angry marmot was in custody, waiting execution, the Game guy picked him up and took him for his demise drowning in a bleach laced barrel of water. That killed the fleas and then the carcass was burned.

I followed his instructions to sanitize, under my shed, using smoke bombs to kill all those diseased fleas. I was able to grab the gas can with one hand as I fought the blaze with the fire extinguisher in the other. Got the fire out with minimal damage to the shed that I haven't repaired yet and have no plans to.

When my friends husband came over, he assessed the damage. After listening carefully to all the testimony, he then did his George Bush Jr. impression using his Texas accent and facial smirk.

"Yawl, um um um really smoooked em out."

 

[Silver]

.

 

[Nicky]

Good question. His wife was a stickler for sanitation and so unless she was bitten by a mouse, it doesn't make sense. It isn't easy to contact from mouse urine, saliva, or feces. If it was, ranchers would have been extinct years ago. Since Mycoplasma is found in so many presentations, that is more likely. They say the dog starved to death. I wonder if it might have had the same thing as the wife. Very strange case for sure.

I never knew that Mycoplasma was so common. When I asked the vets about it, they said it was very common in outdoor cats. That agreed with what I found online. I then remembered years ago when they started building houses above me in formerly unirrigated pasture, the marmots moved into the backyards that bordered the former pasture. I was unaware of this invasion until I was headed out my backdoor and out of nowhere came this angry varmint making angry sounds and rearing up on my screen door. Scared the pee out of me.

I thought it was a dang beaver with rabies. Not willing to discharge my trusty old lever action Winchester 94, even with the homemade foam pipe insulator silencer, in "town," I called a friend, requesting she send her husband over with his crossbow.

"Help, an attempt was made on my life by an angry beaver."

He was unavailable, so I called the police and they gave me the only State Game Specialist in the areas number. He said do nothing as these varmints had bad fleas that spread diseases, one being Mycoplasma.

Long story made short, he came two days later. He loved to talk and after finding out I knew about Baker County wolves in the old days, at least an hour when by, my coffee pot near empty, before we addressed the Marmot situation. He hadn't had much sleep since he had been busy at Keating tracking and killing the wolf that had killed several sheep. That kind of work is usually night shift.

He set up his trap that I put in my last apple as bait. I thought it really nice of me to share my last apple with this assailant. After some carpentry work around my raised floored equipment shed, the varmint had but one way out and that was the trap.

After another two days and the angry marmot was in custody waiting execution, the Game guy picked him up and took him for his demise drowning in a bleach laced barrel of water. That killed the fleas and then the carcass was burned.

I followed his instructions to sanitize, under my shed, using smoke bombs to kill all those diseased fleas. I was able to grab the gas can with one hand as I fought the blaze with the fire extinguisher in the other. Got the fire out with minimal damage to the shed that I haven't repaired yet and have no plans to.

When my friends husband came over, he assessed the damage. After listening carefully to all the testimony, he then did his George Bush Jr. impression using his Texas accent and facial smirk.

"Yawl, um um um really smoooked em out."

Yikes, that is crazy!! Who was the ODFW guy?

 

[Older Whiskey]

Yikes, that is crazy!! Who was the ODFW guy?

I don't remember his name and he was past retirement. This was about 15 years ago. I was surprised that he was the only one covering such a large area and they couldn't hire some young guys and let him retire.

During Covid, I had crows dying in my back yard from Bird Flu. I called the Game department but they said to call another place. That place could have cared less and was rude but not as rude as the Health Dept that years before had a big article in the paper about never handle a dead crow, report it to the Health Dept for testing. Some frustrated, young, very rude lady said they didn't care about bird flu anymore since Covid was killing people. Pick it up and throw it in the garbage can. Humans couldn't get bird flu. Now I hear they are concerned about bird flu again.

 

[Faster horses]

I don't remember his name and he was past retirement. This was about 15 years ago. I was surprised that he was the only one covering such a large area and they couldn't hire some young guys and let him retire.

During Covid, I had crows dying in my back yard from Bird Flu. I called the Game department but they said to call another place. That place could have cared less and was rude but not as rude as the Health Dept that years before had a big article in the paper about never handle a dead crow, report it to the Health Dept for testing. Some frustrated, young, very rude lady said they didn't care about bird flu anymore since Covid was killing people. Pick it up and throw it in the garbage can. Humans couldn't get bird flu. Now I hear they are concerned about bird flu again.

Too many government workers riding the gravy train. They forget who they work for.

 

[Faster horses]

Good question. His wife was a stickler for sanitation and so unless she was bitten by a mouse, it doesn't make sense. It isn't easy to contact from mouse urine, saliva, or feces. If it was, ranchers would have been extinct years ago. Since Mycoplasma is found in so many presentations, that is more likely. They say the dog starved to death. I wonder if it might have had the same thing as the wife. Very strange case for sure.

I never knew that Mycoplasma was so common. When I asked the vets about it, they said it was very common in outdoor cats. That agreed with what I found online. I then remembered years ago when they started building houses above me in formerly unirrigated pasture, the marmots moved into the backyards that bordered the former pasture. I was unaware of this invasion until I was headed out my backdoor and out of nowhere came this angry varmint making angry sounds and rearing up on my screen door. Scared the pee out of me.

I thought it was a dang beaver with rabies. Not willing to discharge my trusty old lever action Winchester 94, even with the homemade foam pipe insulator silencer, in "town," I called a friend, requesting she send her husband over with his crossbow.

"Help, an attempt was made on my life by an angry beaver."

He was unavailable, so I called the police and they gave me the only State Game Specialist in the areas number. He said do nothing as these varmints had bad fleas that spread diseases, one being Mycoplasma.

Long story made short, he came two days later. He loved to talk and after finding out I knew about Baker County wolves in the old days, at least an hour when by, my coffee pot near empty, before we addressed the Marmot situation. He hadn't had much sleep since he had been busy at Keating tracking and killing the wolf that had killed several sheep. That kind of work is usually night shift.

He set up his trap that I put in my last apple as bait. I thought it really nice of me to share my last apple with this assailant. After some carpentry work around my raised floored equipment shed, the varmint had but one way out and that was the trap.

After another two days and the angry marmot was in custody, waiting execution, the Game guy picked him up and took him for his demise drowning in a bleach laced barrel of water. That killed the fleas and then the carcass was burned.

I followed his instructions to sanitize, under my shed, using smoke bombs to kill all those diseased fleas. I was able to grab the gas can with one hand as I fought the blaze with the fire extinguisher in the other. Got the fire out with minimal damage to the shed that I haven't repaired yet and have no plans to.

When my friends husband came over, he assessed the damage. After listening carefully to all the testimony, he then did his George Bush Jr. impression using his Texas accent and facial smirk.

"Yawl, um um um really smoooked em out."

We were always aware of hantavirus when working where mice were apparent and wore face masks.
I'll make a slight correction here (after I googled it); Hantavirus is contracted by breathing air contaminated with rodent droppings, or saliva, or touching contaminated materials and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

Where would Mrs. Hackman have that many mice? Very strange and really only barely mentioned, never really explained.

 

[Puzzled]

Can an animal be a carrier and not display symptoms ?

 

[Older Whiskey]

Can an animal be a carrier and not display symptoms ?

Yes, in Hantavirus a cat can carry the virus to humans and the cat isn't effected. It also is said not to affect livestock, only humans.

In Mycoplasma, it can affect the cat and also humans as well as livestock. From what I can find, experts don't believe that mice urine or feces spreads Mycoplasma. They say the spread is from airborne particles from plants and insects. I question that, since Mycoplasma is found in feedlots and barn cats which makes more sense coming from contact with rodent feces than an insect or plant infestation.

While the two diseases are similar in symptoms, blood test can differentiate them.

Mycoplasma is on the increase in livestock and I hope some researcher will read this and start working on the mice urine feces in livestock feed, connection. Am I the only one alarmed by the fact that Mycoplasma is most commonly seen in beef cattle cow and calf operations around calving time after being on hay, etc., for the winter? Doesn't anyone see the connection to feedlots and dairies where feed is sometime year around?

Also, it seems strange that it isn't seen in dogs as much as cats. This seems to indicate that mice may be a main source for Mycoplasma. If a main source is fleas or airborne, I would think dogs would be affected about the same as cats.

Rodent waste in feed as a source, needs to be studied. It isn't the only cause, but certainly worth investigating instead of a blanket dismissal.

 

[Older Whiskey]

We were always aware of hantavirus when working where mice were apparent and wore face masks.
I'll make a slight correction here (after I googled it); Hantavirus is contracted by breathing air contaminated with rodent droppings, or saliva, or touching contaminated materials and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

Where would Mrs. Hackman have that many mice? Very strange and really only barely mentioned, never really explained.

I hope that a blood test was done that confirmed Hantavirus. They live in New Mexico where the Deer Mouse is well known for carrying the Hantavirus. How his wife came into contact with it, isn't published anywhere. It is also strange she had it but he didn't. Since Hantavirus deaths have been documented in that area for years, maybe it was a easy explanation.

 

[Puzzled]

The whole Hackmen thing is odd. I don't get the impression that Hantavirus or Mycoplasma cause instant death. Seems she would have sought help.

And it seems Merck ought to be testing every animal Nicky has free of charge to get some answers.

 

[Nicky]

The whole Hackmen thing is odd. I don't get the impression that Hantavirus or Mycoplasma cause instant death. Seems she would have sought help.

And it seems Merck ought to be testing every animal Nicky has free of charge to get some answers.

Zoetis is helping out, they want to do milk samples on all the cows which seems daunting. Plus we don't really want to stress the calves any more. But we might do it. If we put any more down (probably will) they are going to do more testing on them too.

 

[Puzzled]

Mycoplasma is on the increase in livestock and I hope some researcher will read this and start working on the mice urine feces in livestock feed, connection. Am I the only one alarmed by the fact that Mycoplasma is most commonly seen in beef cattle cow and calf operations around calving time after being on hay, etc., for the winter? Doesn't anyone see the connection to feedlots and dairies where feed is sometime year around?

Plus in the winter beef cattle become more crowded/concentrated in an area at feeding time.