A case of aspergillosis in a broiler breeder flock having respiratory and nervous system problems caused by Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger is documented. Dyspnea, hyperpnea, blindness, torticollis, lack of equilibrium, and stunting were observed clinically. On postmortem examination of the affected birds, white to yellow caseous nodules were observed on lungs, thoracic air sacs, eyes, and cerebellum. Histopathologic examination of lungs and cerebellum revealed classic granulomatous inflammation and cerebellar lesions, necrotic meningoencephalitis, respectively. No lesions were noted in the cerebrum histopathologically. Aspergillus hyphae were observed in stained sections prepared from lesioned organs. Fungal spores and branched septate hyphae were observed in direct microscopy. Aspergillus fumigatus and A. niger were isolated from the inoculations prepared from the suspensions of organs showing lesions.

Aims: The objectives of this study were to determine the presence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in free range domestic geese, and to characterize isolated strains using phenotyping criteria and SDS‐PAGE of whole‐cell proteins. Methods and Results: Forty cloacal swabs from two different flocks of domestic geese were examined. All Camp. jejuni strains isolated from geese were biotyped using the Lior biotyping scheme. Twelve Camp. jejuni isolates were also tested for their susceptibility to 17 different antibacterial agents by a disc diffusion method. Fourteen of the isolates were also subjected to SDS‐PAGE. All of the geese examined were found to harbour Camp. jejuni. Six geese carried more than one species of Campylobacter. All strains examined were susceptible to various antibiotics but resistant to penicillin G and cephalothin. Eleven strains (92%) were resistant to sodium cefuroxime, and eight (67%) were resistant to cloxacillin, ampicillin and colistin sulphate. Three strains (25%) were resistant to tetracycline, and one strain was resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and kanamycin. Nine strains were subtyped as Camp. jejuni subsp. jejuni biotype II and the remaining ones as biotype I. There were 96% and 100% similarities between all the strains examined by SDS‐PAGE. Conclusions: This study showed that Camp. jejuni were common in the intestinal tract of domestic geese. Significance and Impact of the Study: Geese should be considered as potential reservoirs for human and animal campylobacteriosis. The antibiotic resistance data from this study also showed that fluoroquinolone resistance, which appears to be a problem in poultry isolates in some countries, is not yet a problem in these geese.

Extracts of black and green tea inhibited the growth of clinical isolates of Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli. Tea extracts killed C. jejuni and C. coli within 4 h. Heat treatment of extracts did not affect inhibitory or bactericidal activity.

The genus Brucella causes significant economic losses due to infertility, abortion, stillbirth or weak calves, and neonatal mortality in livestock. Brucellosis is still a zoonosis of public health importance worldwide. The study was aimed to optimize and evaluate PCR assays used for the diagnosis of Brucella infections. For this aim, several primers and PCR protocols were performed and compared with Brucella cultures and biological material inoculated with Brucella. In PCR assays, genus- or species-specific oligonucleotide primers derived from 16S rRNA sequences (F4/R2, Ba148/928, IS711, BruP6-P7) and OMPs (JPF/JPR, 31ter/sd) of Brucella were used. All primers except for BruP6-P7 detected the DNA from reference Brucella strains and field isolates. In spiked blood, milk, and semen samples, F4-R2 primer-oriented PCR assays detected minimal numbers of Brucella. In spiked serum and fetal stomach content, Ba148/928 primer-oriented PCR assays detected minimal numbers of Brucella. Field samples collected from sheep and cattle were examined by bacteriological methods and optimized PCR assays. Overall, sensitivity of PCR assays was found superior to conventional bacteriological isolation. Brucella DNA was detected in 35.1, 1.1, 24.8, 5.0, and 8.0% of aborted fetus, blood, milk, semen, and serum samples by PCR assays, respectively. In conclusion, PCR assay in optimized conditions was found to be valuable in sensitive and specific detection of Brucella infections of animals.

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To assess whether Candida species can penetrate intact fetal membranes under in vitro conditions, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida guil-liermondii, Candida pseudotropicalis and Candida glabrata were inoculated onto the surface of the maternal side of the membranes obtained from 4 pregnant women undergoing repeat cesarean section. After incubation under culture conditions, membranes were evaluated by histological examination. C.albicans inoculated onto the maternal side penetrated and passed to the fetal side and caused some degeneration of the structure of the membrane epithelium. The other four Candida species grew heavily on the maternal surface but did not penetrate and invade the membranes. This effect of C. albicans on fetal membranes may explain the potential mechanism in the development of Candida infections of the amniotic fluid, fetal membranes and possibly the fetus.

The in vitro susceptibilities of Pasteurella haemolytica biotypes A and T and P multocida from pneumonic ovine lungs to penicillin, ampicillin, oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, kanamycin, neomycin, gentamicin, streptomycin and lincomycin were determined by the disk diffusion method. All the isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol and resistant to lincomycin. The isolates of P haemolytica biotype A were consistently more sensitive to penicillin, ampicillin, oxytetracycline, erythromycin and streptomycin than those of biotype T.

1. In this study, the effect of chlorogenic acid extract from Lonicera japonica Thunb. on Mycoplasma gallisepticum infections and the performance of broiler flocks was investigated. 2. A total of 360 Ross-308 broiler chicks taken from M. gallisepticum seropositive flocks were divided equally into three groups designated as control (nothing administered), antibiotic (Tylosin tartrate given for the first 3 d and d 20-22) and test group (chlorogenic acid extract given twice a day on d 16 and 22). 3. Broiler performance analysis, serological tests (slide agglutination), molecular identification (polymerase chain reaction) and histopathological examination were performed to detect M. gallisepticum. 4. The results show that chlorogenic acid not only increases live body weight but is also an alternative treatment option in M. gallisepticum-infected broiler flocks.