Table 2.

Strengths and limitations of mycoplasma diagnostic methods

	Culture	PCR	Antibody ELISA
Strengths	Inexpensive (costs may vary between countries and laboratories)	Organism does not have to be viable as it targets the DNA of the organism	Measures antibody response, therefore animal does not need to be shedding the organisms at the time of sample collection
	Can detect most Mycoplasma species19	Quick diagnosis turnaround of several hours31	Only blood or milk sample required to assess immune response
		Can discriminate between different Mycoplasma spp.40, 49	Longevity of antibody expression is possibly several months103, 114
		Can discriminate Mycoplasma spp. from Acholeplasma spp.30
Limitations	Fastidious growth requirements19	Higher cost
	Diagnosis turnaround of up to 10 days10	Many mycoplasma PCRs are species specific, therefore eliminating the detection of other species21, 51	Uncertainty around cross‐reactivity with other organisms
	Unable to discriminate between Mycoplasma spp. and Acholeplasma spp., which may lead to false positives19	Animal must be shedding the organism at the time the sample was taken26, 28	Seroconversion may take 2–3 weeks before antibodies can be detected97
	Unable to discriminate between different Mycoplasma species19	Identification of non‐viable organisms may lead to insignificant positive results	Suggestions of poor sensitivity63, 115
	Organism must be viable, therefore storage and handling of the sample is important7, 11
	Animal must be shedding the organism at the time of sampling26, 28

Abbreviation: PCR, polymerase chain reaction.