Twenty-Third Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, April 3-5, 1998
Abstracts

From 1995 to 1997, two-hundred and thirty-seven blood samples were collected from 234 gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) on 42 sites in Florida to determine exposure to the pathogen (Mycoplasma agassizii) that causes upper respiratory tract disease (URTD). Twenty-seven (12%) of the gopher tortoises were seropositive, 9 (4%) were suspect, one was seronegative but culture-positive, and the remaining 197 (84%) were seronegative. Of the three gopher tortoises that were sampled twice, one remained seronegative and the other two seroconverted from negative or suspect to positive. The 27 seropositive gopher tortoises and one culture-positive tortoise were from six locations: an old refuse dump, a state park, and a military reservation in northern peninsular Florida; an airport and a state park near Orlando; and a nature park in St. Petersburg. Forty-six (20%) of the gopher tortoises showed one or more clinical signs of URTD. Palpebral edema and ocular discharge were the most common signs.