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What is mycoplasm in rats2007-11-24 22:17:34

some one answered a question had about pet hairless rat, very helpful butim unfamiliar with this term

Answers:

The respiratory infection of which you speak of is unique in each species of animal.

Rats (and mice) carry Mycoplasma pulmonis

http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/myco...

http://www.ratlovers.org/articles/myco.h...

Humans carry Mycoplasma pneumoniae (walking pneumonia)

Dogs carry Mycoplasma haemocanis

Cats carry Feline Hemotropic Mycoplasmosis (Feline Infectious Anemia)

Birds carry Mycoplasma gallisepticum

The pathogen cannot cross species.

Myco, as it is commonly referred to among Rat Fanciers, is a complicated disease which is complicated to explain. Myco is a bacteria, and a virus, and behaves like both. This makes it a tough disease to knock out.

Almost all pet rats are born with the pathogen lying dormant in the nasel passages and the lungs. Stress of any kind, from illness to old age, can bring on a flair-up and once the flair-ups start they will come and go for the rest of the rat's life. We refer to these flair-ups as active Myco as apposed to, "Myco lying dormant".

It depends on the strength of the rat's immune system as too how it will survive chronic Myco. Some rats will die quite quickly from the disease even before symptoms of respiratory distress can be detected, while others can live a good long life with it as long as they are medicated for the rest of their lives. Medications can be found here: