In Korea, brucellosis has been reported periodically in cattle and rarely in dogs; however, it has not previously been screened in domestic animals such as elk, pigs and goats. To investigate the serological prevalence, serum samples were taken from the aforementioned animals annually during 2007-2013 and screened by the rose-bengal test (RBT) or modified RBT, after which positive sera were evaluated by the standard tube agglutination test (STAT). Finally, RBT and STAT-positive sera were confirmed by competitive-ELISA. Brucella abortus biovar 1 was isolated from three elk that were shown to be positive serologically in 2008. There was no evidence of brucellosis in pigs. Based on serological monitoring and investigation of etiological agents, there is no evidence of outbreak of brucellosis in elk, pigs or goats of Korea since 2008. However, the possibility for brucellosis from cattle to affect these other livestock exists; therefore, extensive and continuous serological monitoring is required to maintain their brucellosis-free status.

Members of the genus Brucella are facultative intracellular bacteria and cause brucellosis, a chronic disease in humans and abortion in animals. In this study, we tested sera for brucellosis of 15 Hanwoo farms in the western part of Gyeong-buk province, resulting 5 farms were brucellosis positive in 2008. We collected blood from 277 heads in the brucellosis positive 5 farms, and performed serological diagnosis, brucella positive cattle which had shown higher than 200 antibody titer in tube agglutination test were slaughtered, supramammary lymph nodes were collected, and Brucella spp. wild type isolation and identification were performed. From these results, 15 of Brucella spp. wild type strains were isolated and all strains were identified as B. abortus biotype 1 by biological and molecular analysis. In the antimicrobial susceptibility test, all 15 strains had a similar susceptibility and resistance pattern. This study may be useful for bacteriological and epidemiological understanding of cattle brucellosis in Korea.

In korea, burial is the most common method of disposing animal carcasses culled due to brucellosis infection. However, burial has many disadvantages such as shortage of appropriate burial sites, possibile pollution of ground water supply, and negative view of the public. In this study, we have reviewed 3 legal methods for disposing bovine carcasses, which are burial, incineration, and rendering. We also described the overall process, advantages and disadvantages, and required costs for each method. About 75% of bovine brucellosis outbreak farms had less than 3 reactors, and in our study, rendering required the least amount of cost for farms with a small number of reactors (1-3 heads). Our findings suggest that the use of rendering should be encouraged for farms with bovine brucellosis and other methods considered only if rendering is inappropriate.

Serological study and isolation of Brucellae from dairy cattle were carried out in Kyungbook area of Korea during the period from 1984 to 1985. Biotyping of the isolates was done. Of the 11168 cattle in 2479 herds examined, 27 cattle (0.24%) in the 17 herds (o.69%) were serologically positive for brucellosis. Brucella abortus was recovered from 20 (74.1%) of the 27 infected cattle, and all the strains of the isolates belonged to biotype 1. Of the tissues cultured for brucellae, the supramammary lymph nodes had the highest rate (55.6%) of recovery of brucella organisms