Detection of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Pneumonic Mountain Goat ( Oreamnos americanus) Kids.

We documented bronchopneumonia in seven mountain goat ( Oreamnos americanus) kid mortalities between 2011 and 2015 following a pneumonia epizootic in bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis) and sympatric mountain goats in the adjacent East Humboldt Range and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, Nevada, US. Gross and histologic lesions resembled those described in bighorn lambs following all-age epizootics, and Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae was detected with real-time PCR in the lower and upper respiratory tracts of all kids. Mannheimia haemolytica, with one isolate being leukotoxigenic, was cultured from the upper respiratory tract of five kids, and in one kid, a leukotoxigenic strain of Mannheimia glucosida was isolated from both upper and lower respiratory tracts. During this same period, 75 mountain goats within the two populations were marked and sampled for respiratory pathogens, and M. ovipneumoniae, leukotoxigenic Bibersteinia trehalosi, and Mannheimia haemolytica were identified. The M. ovipneumoniae recovered from the kid mortalities shared the same DNA sequence-based strain type detected in the adult goats and sympatric bighorn sheep during and after the 2009-10 pneumonia outbreak. Clinical signs in affected kids, as well as decreased annual kid recruitment, also resembled reports in bighorn lambs from some herds following all-age pneumonia-associated die-offs. Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, Pasteurellaceae spp., and other respiratory bacterial pathogens should be considered as a cause of pneumonia with potential population-limiting effects in mountain goats.

Evidence of Bovine viral diarrhea virus Infection in Three Species of Sympatric Wild Ungulates in Nevada: Life History Strategies May Maintain Endemic Infections in Wild Populations.

Evidence for bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection was detected in 2009-2010 while investigating a pneumonia die-off in Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis, canadensis), and sympatric mountain goats (Oreamnos americanum) in adjacent mountain ranges in Elko County, Nevada. Seroprevalence to BVDV-1 was 81% (N = 32) in the bighorns and 100% (N = 3) in the mountain goats. Serosurveillance from 2011 to 2015 of surviving bighorns and mountain goats as well as sympatric mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), indicated a prevalence of 72% (N = 45), 45% (N = 51), and 51% (N = 342) respectively. All species had antibody titers to BVDV1 and BVDV2. BVDV1 was isolated in cell culture from three bighorn sheep and a mountain goat kid. BVDV2 was isolated from two mule deer. Six deer (N = 96) sampled in 2013 were positive for BVDV by antigen-capture ELISA on a single ear notch. Wild ungulates and cattle concurrently graze public and private lands in these two mountain ranges, thus providing potential for interspecies viral transmission. Like cattle, mule deer, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep can be infected with BVDV and can develop clinical disease including immunosuppression. Winter migration patterns that increase densities and species interaction during the first and second trimester of gestation may contribute to the long term maintenance of the virus in these wild ungulates. More studies are needed to determine the population level impacts of BVDV infection on these three species.