Improving the control of Mycoplasma synoviae infection

Mycoplasma synoviae is an economically important pathogen of poultry causing respiratory disease, infectious synovitis and eggshell apex abnormality in chickens and turkeys. This agent has a worldwide distribution and its occurrence is increasing. Control of this disease consists of three general aspects: eradication followed by prevention, vaccination or medication.

The main aim of the present project is to improve the control of M. synoviae infection:

1) A system for the genotyping of M. synoviae isolates will be developed. It will facilitate the discovery of possible M. synoviae reservoirs and infection routes between and within the different poultry farming companies, thus it will improve the disease prevention efforts.

2) An assay to differentiate the live attenuated vaccine strain from the clinical isolates will also be developed.

3) Essential data will be presented about the antibiotic susceptibility profiles of M. synoviae strains which will help the antibiotic therapy of infections. Methods allowing rapid and cos-effective molecular detection of the antibiotic susceptibility profile of M. synoviae isolates will be developed. This will allow us to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the clinical isolates within few hours, without culture, directly from the clinical samples (e.g. trachea swabs). Veterinary practitioners will be able to rapidly start treating M. synoviae infected flocks and choose the best antibiotic which is the most effective, less important for human medicine, has appropriate withdrawal time and lowest price. Consequently the economic losses and spreading of antibiotic resistance will be markedly reduced.