Antibiotic Egg Injection to Eliminate Disease II. Elimination of Mycoplasma meleagridis from a Strain of Turkeys

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Abstract
M. meleagridis (MM) was eliminated from a male line of a pedigree strain of primary breeder turkeys by preincubation injection of antibiotics into hatching eggs from 1 generation of infected breeders and raising 18,893 progeny (F-1) in isolation. A combinaton of tylosin and gentamicin sulfate was injected into the albumen by the bottom-end system of treatment method. The organism was sensitive to both antibiotics. No evidence of MM infection was found in surveillance testing on the progenies (F-1 and F-2) at intervals from 1 day old throughout life. Included were examination of air sacs for lesions; sampling of air sacs, trachea and reproductive tissues for mycoplasma isolation; and serologic testing. The temperature-differential method of dipping hatching eggs in the same antibiotics failed to eliminate MM from 2 preceding generations of the same strain of breeders. Serologic and bacteriologic examinations for M. synoviae were negative on the F-1 progeny.