I haven't had a chance to read every post on here, but I read through I think page six and I've seen link after link after link and I've yet to see a single scientific article cited - am I correct? I may have missed one, it's taken me all day to read!
How about we instead of googling, use GOOGLE SCHOLAR.
http://scholar.google.com/
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Mycoplasma+gallisepticum&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1,38&as_sdtp=on
ALSO, when looking at these articles, make sure you check the credentials of the authors and the source publisher, as well as the year published. Some of these articles may be a bit above our needed reading level (I'm not interested in the genome sequence
). Often, even just reading the abstract will be enough for us BYC'ers, if not, you can always go to your local community college library and ask them if they can help you out if there is an article you're really interested in.
Below is just a part of the information to be gained from one such abstract...
Strains of M. gallisepticum differ markedly with respect to important biological properties such as pathogenicity, infectivity, tissue tropism and transmissibility. In addition, phenotypic variation of major surface antigens occurs at high frequency, which is a probable explanation for chronic infection by M. gallisepticum despite a strong immune response. Infection with M. gallisepticum has a wide variety of clinical manifestations, but even in the absence of overt clinical signs, the economic impact may be significant. The most dramatic disease presentation of M. gallisepticum is chronic respiratory disease in meat-type birds, often as one of several aetiological agents in a multi-factorial disease complex. Transmission of M. gallisepticum in ovo from infected breeder birds to progeny is the major route of dissemination of the infection, and is the prime consideration for international trade. In most countries, control programmes for M. gallisepticum are based on maintaining commercial breeding stock free of infection. In instances where control of M. gallisepticum infection is not feasible, vaccination, especially with newly developed live M. gallisepticum vaccines, is being evaluated as an option.
AKA....
Strains can greatly differ, so we won't all see the same symptoms at the same time - it varies by the strain you've gotten ahold of...
Because of the many different strains of MG (and this goes the same for MS) birds don't usually develop immune system defense against later infections...
It is often a problem when it's present in addition to other bacterial or viral infections...
Keeping MG free breeding stock is the only known prevention...
Vaccination is being evaluated as an option. Everything I've read about the MG/MS vaccines says they're pretty much useless at this time. They ARE really working on it, but because it is such a unique disease on the microscopic level, it's been tough. Right now the vaccines are a real hit and miss. They are not recommended for the backyard flock.
