• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.956-966
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• 2021

To prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases that inflict huge economic and social losses, domestic livestock farms and related facilities have introduced automatic and semiautomatic disinfectant solution-spraying systems for vehicles. However, the facility standards and specifications vary by manufacturer, and no scientific performance evaluation has been conducted. The puropose of this study is to develop physical and biological evaluation methods. Physical and biological appraisals were conducted using two types of disinfection facilities (tunnel- and U-type) and two types of vehicles (passenger car, truck). Water-sensitive paper was used to evaluate the physical performance values for the disinfection facilities. In addition, to assess their biological performance, carriers containing low-pathogenic avian influenza virus were attached to vehicles, and the viral reduction was measured after the vehicles moved through the facility. The tunnel-type had rates of coverage in the range of 70-90% for the passenger car and 60-90% for the truck. At least 4-log virus reduction after spraying for 1-5 min was shown for both vehicles. For the U-type facility evaluation, the coverage rates were in the range of 60-90% for the passenger car and at least 90% for the truck. More than 4-log viral reduction was estimated within a spraying time of 5 min. To reduce viruses on the surface of vehicles by at least 4 log within a short period, the disinfectant solution should cover at least 71% of the pathogens. In conclusion, we were able to assess the physical and biological performance criteria for disinfection facilities aboard transportation vehicles.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.73.1-73.8
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• 2022

Background: Lumpy skin disease (LSD), a disease transmitted by direct and indirect contact with infected cattle, is caused by the Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). The disease affects cattle herds in Africa, Europe, and Asia. The clinical signs of LSD range from mild to the appearance of nodules and lesions in the skin leading to severe symptoms that are sometimes fatal with significant livestock economic losses. Objectives: This study aimed to characterize LSDV strains in the blood of infected cattle in Thailand based on the GPCR gene and determine the phylogenetic relationship of LSDV Thailand isolates with published sequences available in the database. Methods: In total, the blood samples of 120 cattle were collected from different farms in four provinces in the northeastern part of Thailand, and the occurrence of LSDV was examined by PCR based on the P32 antigen gene. The genetic diversity of LSDV based on the GPCR gene was analyzed. Results: Polymerase chain reaction assays based on the P32 antigen gene showed that 4.17% (5/120) were positive for LSDV. All positive blood samples were amplified successfully for the GPCR gene. Phylogenetic analysis showed that LSDV Thailand isolates clustered together with LSDVs from China and Russia. Conclusions: The LSD outbreak in Thailand was confirmed, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed to infer the branching pattern of the GPCR gene from the presence of LSDV in Thailand. This is the first report on the molecular characterization of LSDV in cattle in Thailand.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2024

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is distributed in cattle worldwide and causes significant economic losses to the livestock industry. Identification and remove of BVDV persistently infected (PI) cattle is very important to control BVDV infection in cattle herd. The objective of this study is to investigate the infection status of BVDV infection in Korean native cattle (Bos taurus coreanae) farms located in Jeonbuk State. From 2021 to 2022, a total of 1,497 samples were collected from 17 cattle farms and tested for BVDV antigen using a commercial ELISA kit. By the first ELISA testing, 24 cattle from six farms were positive for BVDV antigen, showing the farm-level or cattle-level prevalence of 35.3% or 1.6%, respectively. By the second ELISA testing which carried out with the first ELISA-positive samples after three-weeks, 12 cattle (0.8%) from five farms (29.4%) were positive for BVDV antigen, indicating these cattle were PI cattle. Genotypes of BVDV were determined with 12 BVDV-positive samples using a previously described RT-PCR assay and the results showed that 3 (25.0%) and 9 (75.0%) were confirmed to be type 1 and type 2, respectively. These results will be helpful to establish the effective control strategy for BVDV in cattle farms in Jeonbuk State.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

Purpose: Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a highly contagious and economically important viral infection of cattle, which leads to financial losses in the livestock industry of affected countries. Vaccination is the most effective control measure to prevent the disease. Heterologous sheep pox (SP) vaccine was used against LSD in Turkey. In this research, it was aimed to adapt SP Bakırköy vaccine strain attenuated in lamb kidney cells to Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells to provide better protection than commercial SP vaccine in cattle. Materials and Methods: To evaluate safety and efficacy of vaccines, while animals were immunized with 10 doses (10^4.75 50% tissue culture infectious dose [TCID₅₀]) and 5 doses of SP vaccine (10⁴ TCID₅₀) produced in MDBK cells, others were immunized with commercial Penpox-M vaccine (10^3.9 TCID₅₀). Two cattle were kept as unvaccinated. At day 31 post-vaccination, all animals were challenged with the virulent LSD virus. Blood and swab samples were taken on certain days post-inoculation. Logarithmic differences challenge virus titers between vaccinated and unvaccinated animals were calculated. Results: The clinical sign was not observed in animals immunized with 10 doses of SP vaccine. The differences between the animals immunized with SP vaccine and control group was less than log 2.5 and the viremia occurred in immunized animals. The difference in titer was higher than log 2.5 in animals immunized with the Penpox-M, and viremia did not occur. Conclusion: SP vaccine strain propagated in MDBK cells and can be used for immunization to prevent LSD infections. However, SP vaccine strain propagated in MDBK showed poor protection as compared to Penpox-M.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1076-1083
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• 2013

Seventeen compounds derived from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) were tested for their antiviral activity against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in vitro. Visualization with the cytopathologic effect (CPE) assay and the 3-(4, 5-dimethyithiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide test were used to determine the 50% cytotoxic concentration ($CC_{50}$) and 50% effective concentration ($EC_{50}$) in cultured Marc-145 cells. Among the tested compounds, chlorogenic acid and scutellarin showed potential anti-PRRSV activity. The $EC_{50}$ values were $270.8{\pm}14.6{\mu}g/ml$ and $28.21{\pm}26.0{\mu}g/ml$ and the selectivity indexes were >5.54 and 35.5, respectively. The time-of-addition and virucidal assay indicated that the anti-PRRSV activity of the two compounds could be due to their inhibiting the early stage of virus replication and/or inactivating the virus directly. The inhibition of the virus attachment was not observed in the adsorption inhibition assay. The inhibition ratios of chlorogenic acid and scutellarin were, respectively, 90.8% and 61.1% at the maximum non-cytotoxic concentrations. The results have provided a basis for further exploration of their antiviral properties and mechanisms in vivo. We believe that the chlorogenic acid and scutellarin have a great potential to be developed as new anti-PRRSV drugs for clinical application.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.1628-1633
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• 2001

A goat ${\beta}$-casein gene was cloned and sequenced. Our previous study had determined the nucleotide sequences of the 5' flanking region and the structural gene including all 9 exons. In the present study, investigations were done on the regulatory sequences in the 5' flanking region of the goat ${\beta}$-casein gene by aligning and comparing it with the same gene from other mammals. The results showed that -200/-1 bp of the 5' flanking sequences contained six conserved clusters, in which the sites of gene expression regulated by the transcription factor and hormone might exist. It showed that fourteen glucocorticoid receptor elements, two cAMP responsive elements, two SV40 virus enhancer core sequences, two OCT-1 binding elements and one CTF/NF-1 binding element were dispersed in the 5' flanking region of goat ${\beta}$-casein gene. Our findings are perhaps valuable for the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that control the expression of the goat ${\beta}$-casein gene.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.278-285
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• 2016

Epidemiological studies have shown the association between transportation of live animals and the potential transmission of infectious disease between premises. This finding was also observed in the 2014-2015 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Korea. Furthermore, slaughterhouses played a key role in the global spread of the FMD virus during the epidemic. In this context, in-depth knowledge of the structure of direct and indirect contact between slaughterhouses is paramount for understanding the dynamics of FMD transmission. But the social network structure of vehicle movements to slaughterhouses in Korea remains unclear. Hence, the aim of this study was to configure a social network topology of vehicle movements between slaughterhouses for a better understanding of how they are potentially connected, and to explore whether FMD outbreaks can be explained by the network properties constructed in the study. We created five monthly directed networks based on the frequency and chronology of on- and off-slaughterhouse vehicle movements. For the monthly network, a node represented a slaughterhouse, and an edge (or link) denoted vehicle movement between two slaughterhouses. Movement data were retrieved from the national Korean Animal Health Integrated System (KAHIS) database, which tracks the routes of individual vehicle movements using a global positioning system (GPS). Electronic registration of livestock movements has been a mandatory requirement since 2013 to ensure traceability of such movements. For each of the five studied networks, the network structures were characterized by small-world properties, with a short mean distance, a high clustering coefficient, and a short diameter. In addition, a strongly connected component was observed in each of the created networks, and this giant component included 94.4% to 100% of all network nodes. The characteristic hub-and-spoke type of structure was not identified. Such a structural vulnerability in the network suggests that once an infectious disease (such as FMD) is introduced in a random slaughterhouse within the cohesive component, it can spread to every other slaughterhouse in the component. From an epidemiological perspective, for disease management, empirically derived small-world networks could inform decision-makers on the higher potential for a large FMD epidemic within the livestock industry, and could provide insights into the rapid-transmission dynamics of the disease across long distances, despite a standstill of animal movements during the epidemic, given a single incursion of infection in any slaughterhouse in the country.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.497-503
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• 2007

The humoral immune response of chicken vaccinated with fowl and pigeon pox virus vaccines was determined with the protective potentiality of the two vaccines in field condition of Bangladesh. Different aged Fayoumi chicks were subjected for the study. To assess the relationship with better immune response among experimental groups, the average percentage of 'take reaction' was examined and recorded to 97.77% in group A, 93.33% in group B and 100.0% in group C. The level of immune status induced by different vaccinated group was measured by passive hemagglutination (PHA) microplate test method. The mean PHA titer levels after primary vaccination were $33.06{\pm}14.13$ in group A, $32.0{\pm}14.81$ in group B, and $33.0{\pm}13.66$ in group C. Following booster vaccination, the mean PHA titer levels in prior of challenge were increased to $55.46{\pm}14.64$ in groups A and C, and $46.93{\pm}16.52$ in group B. The recorded PHA titer levels of each group at two weeks after challenge were significantly increased to $106.66{\pm}31.22$, $93.86{\pm}33.04$ and $110.93{\pm}29.29$, respectively. The PHA titer levels after vaccination and challenge were significantly increased compared to pre-vaccination titer levels (P<0.01). Although the PHA titer levels among three groups administrated different vaccine combinations in prior of challenge were significantly varied (P<0.01), it was observed that all of the vaccinated chicks were highly protected against challenge infection.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.1376-1385
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• 2021

Foot-and-mouth disease, one of the most contagious diseases in cloven-hoofed animals, causes significant economic losses. The pathogenesis of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) infection is known to differ with age of the animals. In this study, we aimed to reveal the difference in immunological response in the initial stage of FMDV infection between piglets and adult pigs. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 3 piglets (8 weeks old) and 3 pigs (35 weeks old) that were not vaccinated against FMDV. O-type FMDV (2 × 10² median tissue culture infectious dose) was inoculated into porcine PBMCs and the cells were incubated at 37.0℃ under 5% CO₂ for various time periods (0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h). The total RNA was obtained from the FMDV-inoculated PBMCs after each time point, and the virus titer was investigated in these RNA samples. Furthermore, dynamics of mRNA expression of the six tested cytokines (interferon [IFN]-α, IFN-γ, interleukin [IL]-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α) in FMDV-inoculated porcine PBMCs were evaluated by time-series analysis to determine the differences, if any, based on the age of the pigs. The PBMCs of piglets contained the highest quantity of FMDV mRNA at 6 hours post-inoculation (hpi), and the PBMCs of pigs had the highest quantity of FMDV mRNA at 3 hpi. The mean cycle threshold-value in the PBMCs steadily decreased after the peak time point in the piglets and pigs (6 and 3 hpi, respectively). The dynamics of mRNA expression of all cytokines except TNF-α showed age-dependent differences in FMDV-inoculated PBMCs. The mRNA expression of most cytokines was more pronounced in the piglets than in the pigs, implying that the immune response against FMDV showed an age-dependent difference in pigs. In conclusion, within 48 hpi, the 8-week-old piglets responded more rapidly and were more sensitive to FMDV infection than the 35-week-old pigs, which could be associated with the difference in the pathogenesis of FMDV infection among the pigs. These results provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the age-dependent differences in immune response in pigs against FMDV infection.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2022

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal viral disease in pigs, with a short incubation period and causing immediate death. Few studies exist on the Asian epidemic ASF virus (ASFV) challenge in older pigs, including growing and fattening pigs and sows. We aimed to investigate clinical outcomes, pathomorphological lesions, and viral distribution in organs of 3-month-old growing pigs that were inoculated with the ASFV isolated in Vietnam. The clinical outcomes were recorded daily, and the dead or euthanized pigs immediately underwent necropsy. Viral loads were determined in 10 major organs using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The average incubation period in growing pigs was more delayed (5.2±0.9 dpi) than that in weaned pigs, and the clinical signs were milder in growing pigs than in weaned pigs. The digestive and respiratory clinical signs in growing pigs showed at the end period of life, but these were observed at an early stage of infection in weaned pigs. The pathomorphological features were severe and nonspecific with hemorrhagic lesions in various organs. The viral loads in organs from growing pigs were higher than those from piglets, and the number of viral copies was related to gross lesions in the tonsil and intestine. In the absence of vaccines against ASF, early clinical detection is important for preventing the spread of the virus. Our findings elucidated that the clinical signs and gross lesions in growing pigs differed from those in weaned pigs, which provide valuable information for diagnosis of pigs with suspected ASF infection.