Opportunistic Bacteria Associated with Mammalian Livestock Disease

Abstract

This chapter presents a current compendium of knowledge regarding the opportunistically bacteria associated with those livestock mammals used as sources of meat and milk for consumption by humans. All of these mammalian species are terrestrial and the majority are bovids. However, as important as the bovids are to us, they do indeed represent only part of a diverse collection which includes rodents as small as the Edible dormouse and cervids as large as the moose or Eurasian elk. The opportunistic microorganisms mentioned in this chapter represent a critical concern with respect to human food supplies. This chapter lists the pathogens by genus along with their higher taxonomy, provides information regarding the ecology of these genera, and summarizes their associated disease information with respect to livestock mammals. The genus listings include the individual pathogen species by name and also identify those host mammals which are known to be affected by each pathogen species.