To determine current rate of antimicrobial resistance, a total of 236 isolates from milk samples of dairy cattle with mastitis in Korea during 2010-2011 were examined against 12 antimicrobials using disc diffusion method: 67 Staphylococcus aureus, 74 coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. (CNS), and 95 Escherichia coli isolates. The isolates examined in this study were submitted by Local Veterinary Service Laboratories located in 13 provinces and metropolitan cities nationwide. The highest rates of resistance among S. aureus isolates were against ampicillin (56.7%) and penicillin (56.7%), followed by kanamycin (11.9%). All S. aureus isolates were sensitive to lincomycin, amikacin, and cephalothin. Only one isolate showed resistance to tetracycline and oxacillin, respectively. Less than 10% of the S. aureus isolates presented resistance to erythromycin, neomycin, and gentamicin. Among CNS isolates, the most frequently observed resistance was to lincomycin (44.5%), followed by penicillin (28.3%), ampicillin (18.9%), tetracycline (17.5%), kanamycin (13.5%), and erythromycin (9.4%). All or most of the CNS isolates were sensitive to cephalothin, amikacin, neomycin, and gentamicin. The highest rate of resistance among E. coli isolates was against tetracycline (26.3%), followed by streptomycin (21%), neomycin (15%), kanamycin (12.6%), and gentamicin (10.5%). Amikacin was the only antimicrobial to which no E. coli isolates showed resistance. Around 10% of the S. aureus isolates and 15% of the CNS isolates showed resistance against three or more antimicrobials simultaneously, while more than 30% of the E. coli isolates did.
This paper describes the epidemiological characteristics of bovine tuberculosis in Korea during January 2000 to September 2004, when the incidence of bovine tuberculosis increased markedly: a total of 1,054 herds (4,197 cattle) were confirmed to be infected with Mycobacterium bovis during this period. Based on the record of epidemiological investigation, introduction of purchased cattle (22.9%, 125/545) into a farm was the most frequent transmission route of M. bovis infection. On 31.7% (335/1,054) of the infected farms, recurrent infection occurred more than once before the disease has been eradicated completely. The highest rate of recurrence was detected around 70 days after the initial test of the infected herd, which seems to be related to current regulation on the test of animals that cohabited with those previously diagnosed with infection in farms, rather than to the characteristic of the disease. Although the current eradication program has been effective in controlling the disease in dairy cattle in Korea, control measures more specific to beef cattle may be needed because infection rate in beef cattle continues to increase in recent years.
This study was carried out to examine the safety of Coccimuel-S, an anticoccidiol, using male and female ICR mice. Mice were orally administered Coccimuel-S at dose levels of 250, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 / body weight for singledose toxicity test. There were no significant differences in change of body weight between control and all groups treated with Coccimuel-S. Also, general toxic symptoms, clinical signs and mortality were not observed. In the hematological analysis, none of the parameters were affected by Coccimuel-S. This suggests that there are no negative effects on homeostasis and immunity. In blood biochemistry analysis, none of the markers were affected by administration of Coccimuel-S. Similarly, there were no significant effects on markers for liver, kidney, skeletal and heart muscle functions in all treated-groups. No remarkable lesions were detected in these organs with macroscopic examination. Since there were no adverse effects of Coccimuel-S in single oral toxicity tests, even at higher doses than normal, it was concluded that Coccimuel-S could be candidates as a safe anticoccidials for the treatment of poultry coccidiosis.
During 2008 2010, 943 swine sera were collected from 45 farms located nationwide. Antibodies against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) were tested via serum neutralization antibody test (SNT) using PEDV-SN, which was adapted and propagated on the Vero cell monolayer with trypsin-free culture media supplemented with more than 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). All 45 farms were shown to have at least one or more seropositive pig. Of the 943 swine sera that were tested, 931 sera were neutralizing antibody positive against PEDV. These high seroprevalence rates seemed to be due to vaccination or natural infection of PEDV. In a plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) using a swine serum showing SN titer of 1:32, a greater than 50% plaque reduction was observed in up to 160 times serum dilution.
Canine distemper virus (CDV) causes serious and often fatal disease in dogs. Currently, various cells or cell lines have been used to detect or produce CDV. In order to set up the conditions, we separated two different cell lines from Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) and named as MDCK-F (fibroblast-like) and MDCK-E (epithelial-like) by Na2EDDA treatment. CDV seed virus was prepared using MDCK cells and inoculated into MDCK-F and MDCK-E including MDCK with various ranges of multiplicity of infection (MOI) to confirm the optimal amount of virus inoculation. The virus titer of TCID50/ml was calculated by inoculation of serially diluted virus into 96-well plate of MDCK cells. The titer and cytopathic effect (CPE) in MDCK-E were compared to those in MDCK-F. The titer of seed CDV was 1.24×106 TCID50/ml. Optimal MOI was about 0.1 for both MDCK-F and MDCK-E to obtain highest titers of 108 TCID50/ml and 5 × 108 TCID50/ml respectively. CPE in MDCK-E was shown 4 days after inoculation whether in MNCK-F 5 6 days after inoculation. We can obtain highest titer of 5 × 108 TCID50/ml with 0.1 MOI using MDCK-E. MDCK-E was more susceptible for CDV production than MDCK-F.
Both iron-deficient and zinc-sufficient diets have been known to be associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer. We investigated that effect of dietary zinc on the formation of colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) induced by azoxymethane (AOM) followed by dextran sodium sulfate in iron-deficient mice. Five-week old ICR mice were acclimated for 1 week and fed on iron-deficient diet (4.50 ppm iron) with three different zinc levels (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 ppm) for 12 weeks. The total number of aberrant crypt (AC) and ACF was measured in the colonic mucosa after methylene blue staining. The total ACF numbers of low Zn (LZn), medium Zn (MZn) and high Zn (HZn) diet groups were 10.00 ± 2.67, 8.78 ± 3.12, and 7.96 ± 2.44, respectively and there were no significant differences among the groups. However, the total AC numbers of HZn (27.07 ± 3.88) and MZn (26.39 ± 5.59) diet groups were significantly low compared to LZn (22.57 ± 5.09) diet group (p<0.01). Cytosolic SOD activity was the highest in LZn diet group. But thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances level in liver was also the highest in LZn diet group compared to other groups. There is no difference in cell proliferation in mucous membrane among the groups, while apoptotic positive cells were increased in the HZn diet group. The high zinc diet exhibited decreased β-catenin-stained areas on the mucous membrane of colon compared to the LZn or MZn diet group. These findings indicate that dietary zinc might exert a modulating effect on development of ACF/AC in the mice with iron-deficient status.
Hemorrhagic Escherichia coli (E. coli) is one of the most important agent of diarrhea in piglet. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of virulence genes and genetic diversity in hemorrhagic E. coli isolated from piglets with diarrhea. Among 122 hemorrhagic E. coli, 62 isolates carried single toxin gene like heat-stable toxin (ST), heatlabile toxin (LT), verotoxin 1 (VT1), verotoxin 2 (VT2), spa and eae. The most prevalent toxin gene carried by isolates was ST gene (23 isolates), while the most common association was ST/LT (14 isolates) and ST/LT/VT2 (13 isolates). In pulsed field gel electrophoresis, isolates were not classified as one cluster by epidemiological information including isolated area, isolated year and possessed toxins.
Rabies is one of the most dreadful diseases known to human. Annually, more than 55,000 human deaths occur throughout the world. The main transmitters are dogs. In South Korea, urban rabies is eliminated after massive national vaccine programme but rabies is still present in wildlife around northern part of the country near the border. Occasionally, rabies cases are still reported and there are spill over cases from racoon dogs. No human case was reported since 2005. Therefore, risk of rabies from exporting domestic dogs and cats from South Korea is very low. Hence, foreign rabies can be introduced by importing wild carnivores and unvaccinated dogs and cats under the age of three months since the South Korean legislation does not cover them. Therefore, it is essential to update current import regulation to minimise the risk of rabies.