A dead stray cat was necropsied for zoonotic feline disease monitoring. Grossly, there were no specific lesions. Major microscopic lesions included lymphocytic meningoencephalitis, malacia, and tissue cysts in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex. The size and shape of tissue cysts were identical to those of Apicomplexa including Toxoplasma (T.) gondii. Bradyzoites in the tissue cyst were strongly positive for T. gondii by immunohistochemistry. Electron microscopy revealed that bradyzoites within the tissue cyst were similar to the morphological features of T. gondii. Fresh tissue samples were examined by a polymerase chain reaction assay and resulted in a specific band of T. gondii only in the brain. Based on the results, this case was diagnosed as toxoplasmosis. This is the first case of toxoplasmic meningoencephalitis in a cat in Korea.

Aujeszky's disease (AD) is a respiratory, infectious viral illness associated with high mortality, especially in neonatal piglets and has frequently been considered an economically important disease in many endemic countries. Although AD is still occurring in a geographically defined region in Korea, little attention has been paid to the economics of AD. In this study, partial budget technique was used to develop a simulation model to measure financial losses following the disease epidemic in a swine operation utilizing stochastic or deterministic parameters from the literatures and the index case herd of AD occurred in 2005, where available and applicable. For the infected case herd with a 12500-pig, the total economic loss for this operation was estimated to be about 199 million Korean won (95% confidence interval [CI] 148,645,000-250,741,000). Given net loss due to death of a pig at sow level was 119,000 won, total loss for the case herd with 1200 sows accounted for 143 million won (95% CI 92,599,000-193,729,000). The net loss of the death of one pig at growing and fattening level resulted in loss of 46,000 won (95% CI 40,000-53,000) and 126,000 won (95% CI 122,000-131,000), respectively. Taking into account for the number of pigs raised in the case herd, total loss amounted to 8 million won (95% CI 7,167,000-9,347,000) and 12 million won (95% CI 11,959,000-12,891,000), for growers and fatteners, respectively, assuming 63% of saved feed intake when a pig dies halfway through the respective period. Under the model's assumptions, suckling pig mortality was the major factors of loss in estimating the economic consequences (approximately 71.8% of the total loss). The high economic losses of a herd infected with AD suggest that the effective and region-specific control measures should be implemented in disease endemic foci.

The pathogenicity and acute toxicity of Lactobacillus (L.) pentosus PL11 from eel (Anguilla japonica) were investigated using male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. The pathogenicity of L. pentosus PL11 was examined after treating the rats with 10∨11 CFU/mL, 10∨9 CFU/mL or 10∨7 CFU/mL doses of L. pentosus PL11 culture or 0.85% NaCl (Control) intragastrically. For acute toxicity studies, rats were treated with dried culture broth of L. pentosus PL11 at doses of 5,000 mg/mL, 2,500 mg/mL, 1,250 mg/mL or 625 mg/mL or Lactobacilli MRS broth (Control), and clinical signs or mortalities were monitored for two weeks. The results of the present investigation revealed no mortalities or obvious clinical signs in rats administered with the live bacterial cultures or dried culture broth at any investigated dose level. Also, no significant differences were observed in net body weight gain, gross pathological findings, feed and water consumption and body temperature among the different treatment groups and between the treated and control rats. It can be concluded from the above findings that L. pentosus PL11 is a safe probiotic strain with potential as feed additive to increase the feed efficiency or health of fish.

Rhabdoid tumor is an aggressive neoplasm of animals and human. It is similar with rhabdomyosarcoma histopathologically. But cellular origin of this neoplasm showed no striated muscle origin by immunohistological and ultrastructural studies. Castrated male Shit-tzu dog, 6 years old, had a mass in the left gluteal region near to the tail. The mass was examined histopathologically and immunohistologically. Histopathologically, the tumor was consisted of large polygonal cell with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. The nuclei in some cells were marked eccentrically located. Immunohistochemically, many neoplastic cells were positive for vimentin. These findings were similar to histopathological and immunohistological features of human rhabdoid tumor and few rhabdoid tumors in animals.

Although Theiler became internationally known for his pioneering veterinary research a distant century ago, there are probably few veterinary researchers today who have not heard of him. Onderstepoort, the research institute he created, is equally well, if not even better, known. Moreover, the name Onderstepoort is not only associated with his institute but also with the only South African faculty of veterinary science, another Theiler 'baby'. The purpose of this presentation is to determine why this was so, and to what extent the fame was justified. Was it due to the 'Spirit of Onderstepoort' sometimes referred to by Theiler in the early as well as later stages of his career, or was there perhaps more to it, and what was Theiler's share in the development of that spirit, that fame?

When looking back into the history of botulism and contemplating the final understanding of the syndrome and the ultimate solutions, there are four facets that stand out clearly. The first is that much of the solution was guided by astute observations, curious travellers, committed veterinarians and particularly farmers themselves who were able to relate the occurrence of the condition to climatic and grazing conditions. Secondly, there was the identification of the osteophagia and pica syndrome which led to the feeding of bone-meal as a successful mitigating measure as well as the establishment that botulism was not due to a plant poisoning. Thirdly, the solution of the problem depended on the integration of experience and knowledge from diverse disciplines such as soil science, animal behaviour and husbandry, nutrition, botany and ultimately advanced bacteriology and the science of immunology. Finally it required the technical advancement to produce toxoids in large quantities and formulate effective aluminium hydroxide precipitated and oil emulsion vaccines.

South Africa is blessed with one of the richest floras in the world, which-not surprisingly-includes many poisonous plants. Theiler in the founding years believed that plants could be involved in the aetiologies of many of the then unexplained conditions of stock, such as gousiekte and geeldikkop. His subsequent investigations of plant poisonings largely laid the foundation for the future Sections of Toxicology at the Institute and the Faculty of Veterinary Science (UP). The history of research into plant poisonings over the last 100 years is briefly outlined. Some examples of sustained research on important plant poisonings, such as cardiac glycoside poisoning and gousiekte, are given to illustrate our approach to the subject and the progress that has been made. The collation and transfer of information and the impact of plant poisonings on the livestock industry is discussed and possible avenues of future research are investigated.

Eighty ixodid tick species, 25 argasid tick species and Nuttalliella namaqua occur in South Africa. Twenty-one of the 80 ixodid species and two of the argasid species occur only in this country, while N. namaqua is present only in South Africa and Namibia. Forty-six of the 80 ixodid species and 16 of the 25 argasid species as well as N. namaqua have been described as new species since 1908. People working in South Africa have written or contributed to the descriptions of 24 of these 63 new species, while foreign researchers have described the remainder. New species indigenous to South Africa are still being discovered, while the names of some species, well known because of their veterinary importance, have been altered.

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating haemorrhagic fever of pigs that causes up to 100 % mortality, for which there is no vaccine. It is caused by a unique DNA virus that is maintained in an ancient cycle between warthogs and argasid ticks, making it the only known DNA arbovirus. ASF has a high potential for transboundary spread, and has twice been transported from Africa to other continents- Europe and subsequently the Caribbean and Brazil (1957, 1959) and the Caucasus (2007). It is also a devastating constraint for pig production in Africa. Research at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute has made and is making important contributions to knowledge of this disease, focusing on the cycle in warthogs and tampans and transmission from that cycle to domestic pigs, resistance to its effects in domestic pigs, and the molecular genetic characterisation and epidemiology of the virus.