A total of 196 day-old male broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatments in a study conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of chito-oligosaccharide (COS) on growth, nutrient digestibility, and serum composition. The experimental diets consisted of an unsupplemented control diet based on corn, soybean meal, and fish meal or similar diets supplemented with either chlortetracycline, 50 mg/kg of COS, or 100 mg/kg of COS. Each treatment was fed to 7 replicate pens of birds, with 7 birds per pen. Broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, cecal microbial concentrations, and serum indices were measured at the end of the starter (d 21) and grower phases (d 42). During the starter period and overall, broilers fed 50 or 100 mg/kg of COS had better (P<0.05) average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion than the control birds. The performance of birds fed chlortetracycline was generally intermediate between that of the control and the 2 COS treatments. Compared with the birds in the control or chlortetracycline treatments, the birds receiving 100 mg/kg of COS had better nutrient digestibility of DM, energy, calcium, and phosphorus; higher (P<0.05) concentrations of cecal Lactobacillus; and lower (P<0.05) serum triglyceride and total cholesterol during the starter phase. During the grower phase, the birds fed 100 mg/kg of COS had higher (P<0.05) calcium digestibility and CP retention than those fed the chlortetracycline treatment, and lower concentrations of cecal Escherichia coli than birds in the control treatment. The serum growth hormone level in birds fed 50 mg/kg of COS was higher (P<0.05) than in the other treatments. The birds fed 100 mg/kg of COS had lower (P<0.05) serum triglyceride, higher (P<0.05) serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and higher serum total protein content than birds in the other treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with COS appeared to improve the average daily gain of broilers by increasing the average daily feed intake and nutrient digestibility and modulating the concentrations of cecal microbial flora. Additionally, COS increased serum protein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decreased serum triglyceride.

A total of 47 extended-spectrum-cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli strains isolated from stray dogs in 2006 and 2007 in the Republic of Korea were investigated using molecular methods. Extended-spectrum ␤-lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC ␤-lactamase phenotypes were identified in 12 and 23 E. coli isolates, respectively. All 12 ESBL-producing isolates carried bla CTX-M genes. The most common CTX-M types were CTX-M-14 (n ‫؍‬ 5) and CTX-M-24 (n ‫؍‬ 3). Isolates producing CTX-M-3, CTX-M-55, CTX-M-27, and CTX-M-65 were also identified. Twenty-one of 23 AmpC ␤-lactamase-producing isolates were found to carry bla CMY-2 genes. TEM-1 was associated with CTX-M and CMY-2 ␤-lactamases in 4 and 15 isolates, respectively. In addition to bla TEM-1 , two isolates carried bla DHA-1 , and one of them cocarried bla CMY-2 . Both CTX-M and CMY-2 genes were located on large (40 to 170 kb) conjugative plasmids that contained the insertion sequence ISEcp1 upstream of the bla genes. Only in the case of CTX-M genes was there an IS903 sequence downstream of the gene. The spread of ESBLs and AmpC ␤-lactamases occurred via both horizontal gene transfer, accounting for much of the CTX-M gene dissemination, and clonal spread, accounting for CMY-2 gene dissemination. The horizontal dissemination of bla CTX-M and bla CMY-2 genes was mediated by IncF and IncI1-I␥ plasmids, respectively. The clonal spread of bla CMY-2 was driven mainly by E. coli strains of virulent phylogroup D lineage ST648. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bla DHA-1 in E. coli strains isolated from companion animals. This study also represents the first report of CMY-2 ␤-lactamase-producing E. coli isolates from dogs in the Republic of Korea.

This study was undertaken to screen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in animal carcasses and slaughterhouse workers and characterize MRSA isolates identified during 2010-2012 in Korea. A total of 830 (16.4%) S. aureus and 65 (1.3%) MRSA were isolated from 9669 carcass samples. MRSA was more frequently detected in chicken carcasses (1.2%) than in cattle (0.3%) and pig carcasses (0.6%). The prevalence of MRSA in workers was 6.9% (4/58) in chicken slaughterhouse workers, but no MRSA was detected in pig and cattle slaughterhouse workers (0/41). Two different lineages of MRSA were identified (i.e., human-associated type [ST5, ST59, and ST72] and livestock-associated [LA] type [ST398, ST541, and ST692]); only LA MRSA was observed in chicken carcasses, whereas both types were found in cattle and pig carcasses and workers. All human-associated MRSA isolates carried enterotoxin and/or leukotoxin genes, whereas LA MRSA types did not carry these genes, except ST692 type. However, all LA MRSA isolates were multiresistant, whereas human-associated types were susceptible or resistant to fewer than two antimicrobials except ST5. Furthermore, one or more resistance genes were attributed for resistance to aminoglycosides (aac(6')-Ie-aph(2″), ant(4')-Ia, and aph(3')-IIIa), tetracycline [tet(K), tet(L), tet(M), and tet(S)], macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (ermA, ermB, ermC, and ermT), lincosamide [lnu(B)], phenicol-lincosamide-oxazolidinone-pleuromutilin-streptogramin A (cfr), chloramphenicol (fexA), and fusidic acid [fus(C)]. To our knowledge, this is the first report of tet(S) gene in MRSA isolates and first detection of a unique (ST692) type of MRSA in occupational workers. Detection of new types of human-associated and LA MRSA with multiple resistance and virulence genes in food animal products constitutes a potential threat to public health.

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