Pathogenesis and virulence of Mycoplasma bovis

Abstract

Mycoplasma bovis is an important component of the bovine respiratory disease complex and recent reports identified that other species are also affected by M. bovis. Control of the disease caused by M. bovis has been unsuccessful owing to many factors, including the capacity of M. bovis to evade and modulate the immune system of the host; the lack of known virulence factors; the absence of a cell wall, which renders antibiotics targeting cell-wall synthesis unusable; and the failure of vaccines to control disease on the field. The current knowledge on virulence and pathogenesis is presented in this review.