(Northern Branch, Chungbuk Veterinary Service Laboratory)
(충청북도축산위생연구소북부지소)
Fowl cholera(FC), which has been classified as reportable animal disease in Korea, occurred in the backyard farm located in Chungju, Chungbuk province. The farm was not ordinary domestic poultry farm but backyard farm with main cultivation of fruits. The farmer reported unusual mortality of chickens which were grazed in his own fruit farm without any poultry house. There was a lots of opportunities to contact with wild animals including wild birds freely. Clinical signs observed in the chickens were torticolis, mucous excretion from mouth and greenish diarrhea. On the necropsy we found multifocal necrosis on the surface of liver, hemorrhages in the epicardium and ovary and mucopurulent exudates in the joint. The causative agents was isolated from the liver of chickens collected from the farms and identified as Pasteurella multocida using biochemical tests of bacteria. Also, the isolated bacteria were inoculated into specific pathogen free chickens to evaluate the pathogenicity. High mortality and similar pathological lesions compared to those of chickens died in the farm were observed. We report the first case of fowl cholera of the chickens in Korea and further studies are needed to evaluate the serotype, genotype and pathogenicity of isolated Pasteurella multocida.