M. BOVIS, REPEAT OFFENDER

If that was me, I’d be quick to cut my hair short, dye it gray, grow a distracting moustache and change my clothes. That’d throw the heat off for a while. The “known associates” part may be a bit harder to manage.

Mycoplasma bovis behaves similarly. Like all pathogens, M. bovis “wears” distinctive antigen proteins on its cell surface. When the animal’s immune system recognizes those antigens as potentially dangerous, it circulates the suspect’s description and recruits antibodies to apprehend it. But M. bovis is trickier than most microbes. It can switch which antigens it displays – it can change its clothes. This delays the immune system from recognizing it and allows M. bovis to continue its crime spree throughout the animal, potentially resulting in chronic pneumonia and arthritis.