Molecular characterization of two different strains of haemotropic mycoplasmas from a sheep flock with fatal haemolytic anaemia and concomitant Anaplasma ovis infection.

After the first outbreak of fatal Mycoplasma ovis infection (eperythrozoonosis) in a sheep flock in Hungary (1997), a second wave of the disease was noted in 2006, with different seasonal pattern and affected age group, as well as increased mortality (5.5%). The aim of the present study was to molecularly characterize the causative agent and to reveal underlying factors of the second wave of the disease.