ISOLATION OF PASTEURELLA SPP FROM FREE-RANGING AMERICAN BISON (BISON-BISON)

From November 1991 through March 1992, nasal and pharyngeal swab sampl es were collected from 45 bison (Bison bison) from Yellowstone Nationa l Park, Montana (USA) and cultured for Pasteurella spp. Thirteen isola tes of Pasteurella spp. were recovered from 10 (22%) of the animals. T en isolates were from pharyngeal samples in contrast to three isolates from nasal samples. Pasteurella haemolytica (six biotype T, two bioty pe A, and two biotype 3) was the predominant Pasteurella species. Five biotype T isolates were serotype 4 and the sixth agglutinated in anti sera 3, 4, and 10. Both biotype A isolates were untypable with antiser a to recognized type strains. Pasteurella multocida was isolated from the pharyngeal samples of one animal. Two isolates could not be identi fied to species.