The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Brachyspira species and antimicrobial susceptibility of Brachyspira (B.) hyodysenteriae isolates in Korea. A total of fifty-five Brachyspira species were isolated; five (1.0%) beta-hemolytic Brachyspira species and 50 (10.4%) weak hemolytic Brachyspira species from 116 different diarrheic pig samples and 367 apparently normal pig samples. In farm level, beta hemolytic and weak hemolytic Brachyspira species were detected in 7.4% (5/68) and 19.1% (13/68) of tested pig farms, respectively. By phenotypic and genotypic characterization, all beta hemolytic Brachyspira isolates was classified as group Ⅰ (B. hyodysenteriae), whereas weak hemolytic Brachyspira species isolates were group Ⅲ (B. innocens or B. murdochii). B. hyodysenteriae isolates showed high level of minimum inhibition concentrations to macrolide antimicrobials. This study shows that the prevalence of pathogenic B. hyodysenteriae in pigs is low but antimicrobial resistance of the pathogens is high in Korea. This is the first report of the prevalence of Brachyspira group Ⅲ and antimicrobial susceptibility of B. hyodysenteriae in pigs in Korea. Our results could provide basic data for the management and treatment guidelines of Brachyspira infection.

In the present study, we investigated the expression patterns of ErbB family proteins in the pre-pubertal and pubertal mammary glands of dairy cows in association with gland development. For this study, we performed immunohistochemistry for ErbB-1-4 and Ki-67 cell proliferation marker. We found that the pre-pubertal and pubertal mammary glands had typical structures, including ducts and terminal end buds embedded in the stroma, and no development of lobuloalveolar structures. On immunohistochemistry, ErbB-2 and ErbB-3 were strongly expressed in the cytoplasm and nuclei in the epithelial cells of mammary ducts and terminal end buds, and stromal cells, whereas ErbB-1 and ErbB-4 were weakly expressed only in the cytoplasm of gland epithelium and stromal cells, irrespective of the developmental stage. Cell proliferation was inactive in the mammary gland cell compartments in both phases. Thus, expression of the ErbB family in the developing mammary glands was not associated with their functional effects, such as cell proliferation and lobuloalveolar development. In conclusion, ErbB receptors were differentially expressed in the epithelial and stromal cells of virgin mammary glands of dairy cows. Compared with rodent mammary glands, ErbB-3 and ErbB-4 were found to be highly expressed in bovine mammary glands.

Myiasis-causing larvae were extracted from dogs attending veterinary clinics in Plateau State, Nigeria and subjected to molecular analysis involving polymerase chain reaction amplification of the 28S rRNA gene of blowflies, cloning and sequencing techniques. All larvae were confirmed as Cordylobia anthropophaga Blanchard (Diptera: Calliphoridae) after the initial morphological identification. This is the first molecular identification of any myiasis-causing fly species in Nigeria and may serve as a reliable alternative to morphological identification where samples are not well preserved or difficult to identify to species level.

Aquatic systems are affected by a variety of anthropogenic activities that decrease water quality through the introduction of organic and inorganic pollutants. To investigate the relationship between fish parasite communities and water quality, metazoan parasites were examined in 140 specimens of the Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) sampled in three lakes in the Limpopo Province, namely the Luphephe-Nwanedi Dams (regarded as unpolluted), the Flag Boshielo Dam (regarded as moderately polluted) and a return water dam on a mine site (regarded as polluted). The monogenean parasites Cichlidogyrus halli, digenean larval stages of Clinostomum and Diplostomum spp. and a gryporynchid cestode were found in or on O. mossambicus in all the sampled sites. The distribution of monogeneans (Cichlidogyrus sclerosus, Cichlidogyrus dossoui, Cichlidogyrus tilapiae, Scutogyrus longicornis and three Enterogyrus spp.), metacercarial stages of two digeneans (Neascus and Acanthostomum spp.) and nematodes (an unidentified nematode, Contracaecum sp., Paracamallanus cyathopharynx and Procamallanus laevionchus) was limited to the unpolluted and moderately polluted lakes. Larval stages of Diplostomum sp. were present in O. mossambicus collected from the unpolluted and polluted sites. The variability of the calculated infection indices (prevalence, mean abundance and mean intensity) and the parameters of species richness and diversity suggest that the structure of parasite communities are affected by the pollution levels of the water. The unpolluted reference site had the highest species richness and the highest overall parasite abundance values.

Haemophilus parasuis is the etiological agent of Glässer's disease, which is characterised by fibrinous polyserositis, meningitis and polyarthritis, causing severe economic losses to the swine industry. In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test was developed to improve the specificity, facility and speed of diagnosis of H. parasuis isolates. The LAMP assay rapidly amplified the target gene within 50 min incubation at 63 °C in a laboratory water bath. The LAMP amplicon could be visualised directly in the reaction tubes following the addition of SYBR Green I dye. The detection limit of this LAMP method was 10 CFU/mL, which was 10 times more sensitive than the earlier 16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test conducted by Oliveira, Galina and Pijoan (2001), and no cross-reactivity was observed from other non-H. parasuis strains. This LAMP test was evaluated further on 187 clinical specimens from pigs suspected of being infected with H. parasuis. Forty-three were found positive by bacterial isolation of H. parasuis, as well as by the 16S rRNA PCR and LAMP tests. The 43 H. parasuis isolates were classified into 9 serovars and had 37 genetic patterns when analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). This displayed that various H. parasuis serovars and genotypes were widely distributed in South China. Therefore, the speed, specificity and sensitivity of the LAMP test, the lack of a need for expensive equipment, and the visual readout showed great potential for a correct clinical diagnosis of H. parasuis in favour of controlling Glässer's disease