Poultry flocks are susceptible to respiratory infections from a variety of agents, including Mycoplasmas. The common types of infections from Mycoplasma are chronic respiratory diseases, air sacculitis, sinusitis and synovitis. In many cases, however the infection may be identified only through serological and culture methods (1). Mycoplasmas require very complex media that complicates identification procedures in laboratory diagnosis (2, 3). Frey et al (4) formulated Mycoplasma Broth with horse serum for the cultivation of avian Mycoplasma. Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma synoviae, Mycoplasma meleagridis are few of the Mycoplasma species which cause infections in birds.
Casein enzymic hydrolysate, papaic digest of soyabean meal and yeast extract are the sources of organic nitrogen, carbon, sulphur, Vitamin B and trace elements. Potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and magnesium sulphate provide essential ions. Addition of inactivated horse serum serves as a source of growth factors including lipid compounds and cholesterol, a stimulant of growth (5).
Storage and Shelf-life:
Store below 30°C in tightly closed container and the prepared medium at 2 - 8°C. Use before expiry date on the label.
References:
1. Jordan F. T. W., Pattison M., Alexander D. J., Faragher T., (Eds.),2001, Poultry diseases, 5th Edi., Philadelphia, Pa: WB Saunders.
2. Hayflick and Chanock, 1965, Bacteriol. Rev., 29:185.
3. Hayflick and Stanbridge, 1967, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 143:608.
4. Frey, Hanson and Anderson, 1968, Am. J. Vet. Res., 29:2163.
5. Murray P. R., Baron J. H., Pfaller M. A., Jorgensen J. H. and Yolken R. H., (Eds.), 2003, Manual of Clinical Microbiology,8th Ed., American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.