One hundred one enterococcal isolates from feces of livestock animals in Korea were screened for the presence of bacteriocins. Sixteen of 41 (39%) E. faecalis and 4 of 56 (7.1%) E. faecium isolates showed antimicrobial activity against at least one indicator strain. Only 4 of 20 the enterococcal isolates showing antimicrobial activity possessed at least one bacteriocin gene. While entA and entB were detected in three isolates as a pair of genotype, entQ, bac31, and AS-48 were not found in the enterococcal isolates. In almost all isolates, a correlation between genotype and phenotype of these determinants was not always observed.

Aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus spp. are recognized as a major concern in animal and human health. In pigs, ingestion of aflatoxin-contaminated feeds causes immunosuppression, hepatotoxicosis and poor feed efficiency. In this study, we screened the contaminated level of aflatoxins in 449 pig feeds from 12 swine farms in Korea. For rapid and efficient screening of aflatoxins in pig feeds we evaluated the feasibility of three commercial ELISA kits for the screening of aflatoxins in pig feeds. Twenty-nine pig feed samples were examined for total aflatoxins using three ELISA kits, simultaneously. From three repetitions of each assay, the average intra-assay precisions and the average inter-assay precisions expressed as coefficient of variation (CV, %) for VeratoxⓇ Quantitative Aflatoxin test were 6.90 and 12.29, respectively. A statistical comparison of the results between HPLC and ELISAs showed that the correlation coefficient values for VeratoxⓇ was 0.96. The results demonstrated that we can apply the VeratoxⓇ Quantitative Aflatoxin test for the detection of aflatoxins in pig feed from the field. The screening of field samples with this ELISA kit showed that 11 out of 265 pig feeds for growers and weaners were contaminated with total aflatoxin levels exceeding 10 ppb, maximum tolerable limits for their compound feeds and the aflatoxins levels of remaining 184 pig feeds for other age groups of pigs were confirmed as below 20 ppb. The results from the screening indicated overall low levels of aflatoxins contamination in pig feeds.

Since there had been the first human outbreak of novel influenza A/H1N1 in Mexico, it has become pandemic throughout the world. In the Republic of Korea, the first human case was on May, 2009 and National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) has started monitoring novel influenza A/H1N1 on domestic swine farms. The first positive case was detected on 14, Dec, 2009 and until now, we have had total 17 positive cases. From the first case, we did epidemiological investigation on introduction and transmission of virus to pigs. We have concluded that virus had been introduced from humans to pigs, possibly from October to November, 2009 in our country. There were direct and indirect factors including the vehicles transporting veterinary medicine, feed, etc. related to transmission of virus from farm to farm. However, breeding pigs seem to be extrinsic to transmitting factors. Upon the epidemiological investigation, the off-limits of visitors to farms and the disinfection is thought to be critical for blocking the introduction and transmission of novel influenza A/H1N1. In addition, collecting and analyzing the genetic informations of influenza virus is important for predicting and handling the new pandemic influenza in the future.