Ruminant Health – Veterinary Faculty Department of Animal Health

University of Murcia

The research group “Ruminant Health” has a well-recognized expertise for 30 years in the study of ruminant mastitis and milk quality, especially in goats. It has included as mean goals the dynamic of the somatic cell counts in infected and uninfected goats or the epidemiological role played by infectious agents as the caprine arthritis encephalitis lentivirus or contagious agalactia (CA) causing mycoplasmas in chronically infected herds. Currently, a new research line focus on the sanitary conditions of transhumant ruminant populations are also open. The Research line on mycoplasmas and mycoplasmoses has been focused in the study of contagious agalactia in chronically infected herds for 15 years. For CA, the team has a well-recognized contribution in analytical and molecular epidemiology, diagnostic and control in small ruminants chronically infected areas. Moreover, the findings concerning the epidemiological role played by the goat males in CA transmission have also contributed to develop more safety procedures concerning artificial insemination in small ruminants. The team also manages an important collection of Spanish mycoplasma isolates with documented history and we have all the facilities to access to several goat, sheep and bovine herds for samplings based on the high interaction with the private sector. In this sense, two of the main research lines in the last years have evaluated the use of typing for studying the infection in endemic areas or the AB resistance to macrolides, quinolones and tetracyclines using the set of strains. Recently, the group started a new research line focus on the presence and epidemiological importance of Mycoplasma bovis as causal agent of respiratory problems, especially in bovine feedlots.

Further readings

A. Gómez Martín, A. Paterna, J. Amores and C. De La Fe. 2013. Contagious agalactia due to Mycoplasma spp. in small dairy ruminants: Epidemiology and prospects for diagnosis and control. Commissioned review, The Veterinary Journal, 198, 48-56. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2013.04.015)