Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have been isolated from a wide range of domestic and wild birds. Wild birds, predominantly ducks, geese and gulls form the reservoir of AIV in nature. The viruses in wild bird populations are a potential source of widespread infections in poultry. Active surveillance for AIV infection provides information regarding AIV distribution, and global AIV surveillance can play a key role in the early recognition of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Since 2003 in Korea, there have been four H5N1 HPAI outbreaks caused by clade 2.5, 2.2 and 2.3.2. Therefore, improvement of AIV surveillance strategy is required to detect HPAI viruses effectively. This article deals with the major events establishing the role of wild birds in the natural history of influenza in Korea. We highlighted the need for continuous surveillance in wild birds and characterization of these viruses to understand AIV epidemiology and host ecology in Korea.

This study was conducted to investigate biochemical properties and O group serotypes of pathogenic 203 Escherichia (E.) coli isolates from poultry with collibacillosis in Korea during the period from April 2003 to December 2005. Biochemical and fermentative properties of 203 isolates of E. coli tested were in accordance with Cowan and Steel's classification standard. One hundred and forty one isolates (69.5%) could be classified into a total of 20 O serotypes. Among them, the predominant O groups were O78 (32.5%), O88 (7.8%), O15 (6.8%), O141 (6.4%), and O158 (3.0%) in decreased order. Other infrequently encountered serogroups included: O8 (2%), O161 (2%), O20 (1.5%), O125 (1.5%), O2 (1%). And O6, O18, O24, O46, O76, O109, O119, O138, O139 and O148 had a frequency of 0.5%, respectively. Sixty two isolates (30.5%) were non-typeable with standard 173 O antisera used in this study.

Antimicrobial drugs are widely used in poultry industry as growth promoters or to control infectious diseases. However, this practice is reported to have caused high resistance to antimicrobial drugs in normal chicken flora and pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance to Escherichia coli (E. coli) from chicken has been mainly reported in normal flora, but rare in pathogenic organism in Korea, recently. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate prevalence of antimicrobials resistance, transfer of R plasmid, and association between antimicrobial drug resistance and O serotype of 203 pathogenic E. coli from poultry in Korea during the period from April 2003 to December 2005. These isolate showed a high resistance to tetracycline (Tc, 92.6%), streptomycin (Sm. 81.8%), ampicillin (Ap, 77.3%), ciprofloxacin (Ci, 70.9%), sulfisoxazole (Su, 66.5%), and trimethoprim (Tp, 58.1%). Two hundred-one (99.0%) of the isolates were resistant to one or more drugs. They showed 57 different resistant patterns, and the most prevalent resistant pattern among them was Tc, Sm, Su, Ap, Tp, Ci, Na. Sixty-eight (33.8%) of the isolates transferred all or a part of their antimicrobial resistant pattern to the recipient strain by R plasmid. The most common antinicrobial resistant pattern was Tc, Sm, Su, Ap, Tp, Ci, Na in serotype O78, O88 and O15, respectively. These results exhibit high individual and multiple resistance to antimicrobials of pathogenic E. coli from poultry in Korea. They also suggest the needs for surveillance to monitor antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria that can be potentially transmitted to humans from food animals and to regulate the abuse of antimicrobials in food-producing animals in Korea.

Streptomyces (S.) fradiae is a microbe with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, isolated from soil. In the present study, antibacterial effects of S. fradiaea against Salmonella (S.) gallinarum was determined. S. fradiae inhibited growing of S. gallinarum in Luria-Bertani media agar. Moreover, ingestion of S. fradiae markedly inhibited mortality of chickens experimentally infected with S. gallinarum. There is no side effect by S. fradiaeon, in safety of chickens and antibiotic material residues in chicken meat. Taken together, S. fradiae have the antibacterial effects against S. gallinarum. Therefore, we concluded that S. fradiae might be a good microbial candidate for treatment or control of fowl typhoid in chickens.

Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- was a monophasic variant of Salmonella (S.) Typhimurium and notorious for reemerging candidate which would replace S. Typhimurium DT104 for antibiotic resistance. Recently, isolation rate was increased on human and industrial animals but there was no case in domestic animals but human in Korea. This was first isolation case from domestic animals in Korea. The five isolates from feces of duck (n = 3), chicken (n = 1), and wild bird (n = 1) showed antibiotic resistance against cephems and aminoglycosides. These means that the spread of emerging bacterial pathogens to domestic animals and the need of systemic management for Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-.

This study was conducted to investigate incidence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing strains and characteristics of ESBL gene in pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from poultry during the period from April 2003 to December 2005 in Korea. Among 203 isolates, 4 isolates (3 from broilers and 1 from layer) were confirmed as ESBL producing strains by double disk synergy test, polymerase chain reaction and sequencing for β-lactamase genes. bla∧CTX-M-15 and bla∧CMY-2 were detected in these 4 isolates and were transferred to recipient by conjugation, respectively. Also, these ESBL producing strains were associated with multiple drug resistance. In conclusion, these results exhibit incidence of CTX-M and CMY-2 β-lactamase in pathogenic E coli from poultry in Korea, and clinically important meaning in human. And they also suggest the needs for rapid and broad surveillance to monitor ESBL genes and R plasmid transferring resistant gene in poultry.