Fernández-Aguilar, Xavier Cabezón, Oscar Granados, José Enrique Frey, Joachim Serrano, Emmanuel Velarde, Roser Cano-Manuel, Francisco Javier Mentaberre, Gregorio Ráez-Bravo, Arián Fandos, Paulino López-Olvera, Jorge Ramón 2017 <jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:p>The susceptibility of the Iberian ibex (<jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Capra pyrenaica</jats:named-content>) to <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Mycoplasma conjunctivae</jats:named-content> ocular infection and the changes in their interaction over time were studied in terms of clinical outcome, molecular detection, and IgG immune response in a captive population that underwent a severe infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC) outbreak. <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Mycoplasma conjunctivae</jats:named-content> was detected in the Iberian ibex, coinciding with the IKC outbreak. Its prevalence had a decreasing trend in 2013 that was consistent with the clinical resolution (August, 35.4%; September, 8.7%; November, 4.3%). Infections without clinical outcome were, however, still detected in the last handling in November. Sequencing and cluster analyses of the <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> strains found 1 year later in the ibex population confirmed the persistence of the same strain lineage that caused the IKC outbreak but with a high prevalence (75.3%) of mostly asymptomatic infections and with lower DNA load of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> in the eyes (mean quantitative PCR [qPCR] cycle threshold [<jats:italic>C<jats:sub>T</jats:sub> </jats:italic>], 36.1 versus 20.3 in severe IKC). Significant age-related differences of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> prevalence were observed only under IKC epizootic conditions. No substantial effect of systemic IgG on <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> DNA in the eye was evidenced with a linear mixed-models selection, which indicated that systemic IgG does not necessarily drive the resolution of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> infection and does not explain the epidemiological changes observed. The results show how both epidemiological scenarios, i.e., severe IKC outbreak and mostly asymptomatic infections, can consecutively occur by entailing mycoplasma persistence.</jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:bold>IMPORTANCE</jats:bold> <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Mycoplasma</jats:named-content> infections are reported in a wide range of epidemiological scenarios that involve severe disease to asymptomatic infections. This study allows a better understanding of the transition between two different <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Mycoplasma conjunctivae</jats:named-content> epidemiological scenarios described in wild host populations and highlights the ability of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> to adapt, persist, and establish diverse interactions with its hosts. The proportion of asymptomatic and clinical <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> infections in a host population may not be regarded only in response to intrinsic host species traits (i.e., susceptibility) but also to a specific host-pathogen interaction, which in turn influences the infection dynamics. Both epidemic infectious keratoconjunctivitis and a high prevalence of asymptomatic <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content> infections may occur in the same host population, depending on the circulation of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">M. conjunctivae</jats:named-content>, its maintenance, and the progression of the host-pathogen interactions.</jats:p> application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/28952 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1128/aem.00690-17 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0099-2240 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - American Society for Microbiology. - 2017, vol. 83, no. 15 Biotechnology Food Science Ecology Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Postepizootic Persistence of Asymptomatic Mycoplasma conjunctivae Infection in Iberian Ibex http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501