New Research Publication on Pneumonia in Australian Sheep

The Australian National Sheep Health Monitoring Program estimates that up to 40% of Australian sheep flocks have endemic pneumonia.

The aim of research described in our recent publication was to use real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on bronchial swabs collected from sheep lungs with gross pathological signs of pneumonia to detect three common bacterial ovine respiratory pathogens (Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, Mannheimia haemolytica, and Pasteurella multocida).

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae was the most detected (35% of samples), followed by Mannheimia haemolytica (14.9% of samples) and Pasteurella multocida (8.1% of samples). The most common combination of infections was Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae plus Mannheimia haemolytica (48 samples, 14.7% of positive samples), followed by Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae plus Pasteurella multocida (21 samples, 6.4% of positive samples), and Mannheimia haemolytica plus Pasteurella multocida (19 samples, 5.8% of positive samples).

There was a weak positive correlation between samples positive for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and samples positive for Mannheimia haemolytica (r = 0.14, P = 0.002), a weak positive correlation between samples positive for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and samples positive for Pasteurella multocida (r = 0.08, P = 0.002), and a weak-to-moderate positive correlation between samples positive for Mannheimia haemolytica and samples positive for Pasteurella multocida (r = 0.25, P < 0.001).

Lloyd JB (2025). Survey of Mycoplasma (Mesomycoplasma) ovipneumoniae, Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida in pneumonic lungs from sheep slaughtered at 3 abattoirs in New South Wales, Australia. Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 89(2):83-87.