Immunizing animals in the wild against Brucella (B.) abortus is essential to control bovine brucellosis because cattle can get the disease through close contact with infected wildlife. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effectiveness of the B. abortus strain RB51 vaccine in protecting infection as well as vertical transmission in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats against B. abortus biotype 1. Virgin female SD rats (n = 48) two months of age were divided into two groups: one group (n = 24) received RB51 vaccine intraperitoneally with 3 x 10(10) colony forming units (CFU) and the other group (n = 24) was used as non-vaccinated control. Non-vaccinated and RB51-vaccinated rats were challenged with 1.5 x 10(9) CFU of virulent B. abortus biotype 1 six weeks after vaccination. Three weeks after challenge, all rats were bred. Verification of RB51-vaccine induced protection in SD rats was determined by bacteriological, serological and molecular screening of maternal and fetal tissues at necropsy. The RB51 vaccine elicited 81.25% protection in SD rats against infection with B. abortus biotype 1. Offspring from rats vaccinated with RB51 had a decreased (p < 0.05) prevalence of vertical transmission of B. abortus biotype 1 compared to the offspring from non-vaccinated rats (20.23% and 87.50%, respectively). This is the first report of RB51 vaccination efficacy against the vertical transmission of B. abortus in the SD rat model.
Animals ; Antibodies, Bacterial/blood ; Bacterial Vaccines/immunology/*standards ; Birth Weight ; Brucella abortus/immunology/isolation & purification/*physiology ; Brucellosis/immunology/microbiology/*prevention & control/*transmission ; Female ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical/*prevention & control ; Litter Size ; Male ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Rate ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Survival Analysis

BACKGROUND: The first probable case of human brucellosis in Korea was reported in 2002. Since then there has been a gradual increase in the incidence and prevalence of the disease. There has not been any long-term follow-up investigation of the clinical course and serologic profiles of the disease in Korea. The present investigation is a 3 year clinical and serologic follow-up of human brucellosis patients in Chonbuk province. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The investigation involved a total of 11 patients who were positively diagnosed with brucellosis in 2003. Clinical manifestations were evaluated either directly or via telephone interviews. The serologic follow-up was done by standard tube agglutination test (SAT). Negative sero- conversion was defined as an SAT titer less than 1:40. Early convalescence was defined as clinical manifestations of brucellosis observed within 12 months of diagnosis, and delayed convalescence was defined as clinical symptoms persisting longer than 12 months. RESULTS: A total of eleven patients (8 males and 3 females; with a mean age of 45 years) participated in the study. Ten patients were livestock workers and one was a practicing veterinarian. Three years after the initial diagnosis, chronic fatigue and arthralgia were persistently observed in more than 60% of the patients in delayed convalescence. There was no evidence of relapse or reinfection of the disease. The median duration of antibiotics treatment and serologic follow-up were 11 weeks and 22 months, respectively. Negative sero-conversion was noted between 5 and 16 months after the initiation of treatment (with a median 11 months). CONCLUSION: Although the human brucellosis patients developed chronic symptoms such as fatigue and arthralgia even after negative sero-conversion, there was no evidence of any relapse or reinfection. This may mean that antibiotic intervention is not a justifiable recommendation. We also suggest that serologic monitoring be performed for at least 16 months after the initiation of treatment.
Agglutination Tests ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Arthralgia ; Brucellosis* ; Convalescence ; Diagnosis ; Fatigue ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans* ; Incidence ; Interviews as Topic ; Jeollabuk-do ; Korea* ; Livestock ; Male ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Veterinarians

BACKGROUND: The first probable case of human brucellosis in Korea was reported in 2002. Since then there has been a gradual increase in the incidence and prevalence of the disease. There has not been any long-term follow-up investigation of the clinical course and serologic profiles of the disease in Korea. The present investigation is a 3 year clinical and serologic follow-up of human brucellosis patients in Chonbuk province. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The investigation involved a total of 11 patients who were positively diagnosed with brucellosis in 2003. Clinical manifestations were evaluated either directly or via telephone interviews. The serologic follow-up was done by standard tube agglutination test (SAT). Negative sero- conversion was defined as an SAT titer less than 1:40. Early convalescence was defined as clinical manifestations of brucellosis observed within 12 months of diagnosis, and delayed convalescence was defined as clinical symptoms persisting longer than 12 months. RESULTS: A total of eleven patients (8 males and 3 females; with a mean age of 45 years) participated in the study. Ten patients were livestock workers and one was a practicing veterinarian. Three years after the initial diagnosis, chronic fatigue and arthralgia were persistently observed in more than 60% of the patients in delayed convalescence. There was no evidence of relapse or reinfection of the disease. The median duration of antibiotics treatment and serologic follow-up were 11 weeks and 22 months, respectively. Negative sero-conversion was noted between 5 and 16 months after the initiation of treatment (with a median 11 months). CONCLUSION: Although the human brucellosis patients developed chronic symptoms such as fatigue and arthralgia even after negative sero-conversion, there was no evidence of any relapse or reinfection. This may mean that antibiotic intervention is not a justifiable recommendation. We also suggest that serologic monitoring be performed for at least 16 months after the initiation of treatment.
Agglutination Tests ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Arthralgia ; Brucellosis* ; Convalescence ; Diagnosis ; Fatigue ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans* ; Incidence ; Interviews as Topic ; Jeollabuk-do ; Korea* ; Livestock ; Male ; Prevalence ; Recurrence ; Veterinarians

To examine the fate of Strongyloides venezuelensis. Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguicalatus) were orally infected with 1,000 L3 larvae per animal. Altogether, 50 gerbils divided into 5 groups of 10 each were monitored for a period of 570 days to document the kinetics of faecal egg output, adults worm population, morphological development, fecundity, and hematological changes including peripheral blood eosinophilia. This study chronicled a life long parasitism of S. venezuelensis in the gerbil host, and showed that S. venezuelensis infection was quite stable throughout the course of infection and the worms maintained their normal development as evidenced by their body dimension. A progressive loss of body condition of the infected gerbils was observed as the level of infection advanced. However, no detectable pathological changes were observed in the gastrointestinal tract. The present findings indicate that an immunocompetent host, such as the Mongolian gerbil, can serve as a life long carrier model of S. venezuelensis if the worms are not expelled within 570 days after infection.
Animals ; Blood Cell Count ; Disease Models, Animal ; Feces/parasitology ; Gerbillinae/*parasitology ; Parasite Egg Count ; Strongyloides/*growth & development/pathogenicity ; Strongyloidiasis/blood/*parasitology

Immunoblot analysis utilizing bovine sera from naturally or experimentally infected with Theileria sergenti were used to determine the immunodominant polypeptides of T. sergenti (Korea isolate).The previously recognized major bands, 18 kDa, 29 kDa, 34 kDa, and 45 kDa, were excised after electrophoresis and trasferred to PVDF membrane. The individual bands were sequenced. The 34 kDa polypeptide which was the most antigenic and immunogenic peptide was observed in the Western blot. However, Chou-Fasman prediction sites (antiginic site) for antigen determinants of the 45 kDa,34 kDa, 29 kDa and 18 kDa polypeptide were 6, 4, 2 and 0, respectively. However, the 45 kDa polypeptide showed no reaction with anti-T. sergenti hyperimmune serum.
parasitology-protozoa ; Theileria sergenti ; amino acid sequence ; synthetic peptide ; predicted antigenic value ; amino acid

In order to obtain the most specific and sensitive antigen from crude antigens of Fasciola hepatica for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), phosphate buffered saline extract of F. hepatica was prepared. The crude extract was fractionated into 7 antigens using Sephadex G-100 column chromatography. Seven fractionated antigens were applied to ELISA, precipitation test and intradermal test, respectively. Results obtained are as follows: The specificity (95 per cent confidence interval in negative sera of bovine fascioliasis ; Mean+2 x SD of absorbance ) of the first (MW>150,000) and the second antigens (MW 120,000) were 93.7 per cent, but those of others including crude antigen showed 100 per cen.t. The sensitivity (positive sera of bovine fascioliasis having higher values with compared to the criterion) of the first, the sixth (MW 16,000) and the seventh antigen (MW<5,000) were 91.6 per cent, 87.5 per cent and 0 per cent, respectively, but those of others showed all 100 per cent. The absorbance by ELISA using the fifth antigen (MW 26,000) was 8.43-folds higher in the positive sera than that in the negative sera. This could be used as one of the most specific antigens for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis. In Ouchterlony test, precipitin lines were not found in the sera naturally infected with F. hepatica, but some were found in the sera of rabbits immunized with the crude antigens. The numbers of precipitin lines in the sera of rabbits were different in the different fractionated antigens. They were 6 in the crude, 2 in the second and the third antigens, 1 in the forth, the fifth and the sixth antigens and absent in the seventh antigen, respectively. The wheal size for the bovine infected with F. hepatica was 2.46+-0.15 cm in the intradermal test antigen (saline extract of F. hepatica) supplied by the Veterinary Research Institute, Rural Development Administration, Korea. The wheal size of the first, the second and the third antigens were larger than that of intradermal test antigen, whereas those of the forth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh antigens showed smaller than that of the intradermal test antigen. The results suggest that the fifth antigen may be specific antigen for the immunodiagnosis of bovine fascioliasis.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; immunology ; enzyme-linke immunosorbent assay ; diagnosis ; fascioliasis ; Fasciola hepatica

Fascioliasis in cattle is one of the most common and very serious trematode diseases in Korea. In the present study, the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied in the diagnosis of fascioliasis using antigen of Fasciola hepatica, peroxidase of conjugate anti-cattle IgG and orthophenylenediamine as a substrate by micro-method technique of Voller et al. (1976b) and MacLaren (1978) with a slight modification. Results obtained from the present study are as follows: In assay for optimal dilution of stock antigen, the antigen (protein contents; 0.8 mg/ml) was diluted from 1/50 to 1/600 with carbonate buffer (pH 9.6), and then absorbance values were measured with 1/100 diluted sera. The regression equations between the OD values of ELISA and dilution of antigen were log Y=-0.181-0.00127X in infected sera, and log Y= -0.578- 0.000879X in normal sera. The significantly higher (p<0.05) OD value was observed in the former. In assay for optimal dilution of sera, the sera were diluted from 1/25 to 1/400 with in PBS/ Tween 20(pH 7.4), and absorbance values were measured with 1/200 diluted antigen. The regression equation between the OD values of ELISA and dilution of sera were log Y=-0.1540-0.0007238X in infected sera and log Y=-0.4834-0.00116X in normal sera. The former was higher than the latter (p<0.05). In the 27 cases of negative intradermal test, OD values of the ELISA are 0.447 +/- 0.144, the 95 percent confidence interval (Mean+2 x SD) of the values was 0.735, and there was no case over the values. Therefore, the sensitivity of the antigen to diagnose fascioliasis was 100 percent in the negative case. The OD value 0.7 which is designed as a criterion (detection level of positive one) is useful for the performance of the ELISA in fascioliasis. According to the OD value of criterion in the regression equations, the optimal dilutions of stock antigen and serum were 1/250 and 1/100, respectively. In the 58 cases of fascioliasis from which the adult could be found in the bile ducts, the OD value was 0.846+0.224(-0.224). The 75 percent (44 cattle) among them had higher value with compared to the criterion, and the 60 percent (20 cattle) of the cases of proliferative cholangitis of 33 cattle which had been infected previousely with Fasciola sp. is higher than the criterion. Prevalence of fascioliasis was 43.4 percent in the application of the ELISA to 272 cattle which were reared in Jeonbug district.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ; Fasciola sp. ; fascioliasis ; cattle

In order to judge appropriately the suitability as the second intermediate host of Clonorchis sinensis, the present experiments were proposed to survey the metacercaria of C. sinensis in the fish host, Cultriculus eigenmanni, in the field, and to observe, by experimental infection of the fish with Clonorchis cercaria, the penetrating ability of the cercaria, maturity, the process of degeneration and extinction, and infectivity of the metacercaria. The following is a brief summary of the leading facts gained through the experiments. All the ten fish (mean body weight 13.4 +/- 3.43 g) which were caught in Ok-ku irrigation reservoir were infected with the metacercariae and the average number of the metacercariae found in the fish body/gram was 4.55. The fish was easily subject to invasion of the cercaria, and the examination of the cercariae after having the fish infected disclosed that 24 hours after the infection, all of the cercariae formed their cysts in muscle and the metacercariae kept growing, that 7 days later the metacercariae were found folding their bodies twice, and that in 15 days the characteristic structure of the metacercariae was complete and made a vigorous rotary movement intermittently. In the case of control fish, Pseudorasbora parva, both penetrating ability of the cercariae and the infective degree of the metacercariae to control host were stronger as compared with the fish host because that the control fish had higher suceptibility to C. sinensis. Afterwards, the metacercariae in the fish host came to a state of maturity and beyond this stage some metacercariae started the process of degeneration and extinction in as early as 30 days, and as more days elapsed, mortality of the metacercariae was not uniformly increased but difference of mortality appeared to be according to the individual of fish host. That is, in 390, 540 and 586 days, all of the metacercariae in the fish hosts became dead, meanwhile almost all of those found in the fish host of 596 days after the infection survived (mortality; 8.51 percent). Percentage of orally administered metacercariae developing to maturity in rabbit is 10.46 percent in the last case. As the days were progressed the shapes of the metacercariae in the fish host tended to change from ellipsoid to almost round shapes, the length became shorter while the width was wider. The results shown above revealed that C. eigenmanni was, though it could not be proper host than P. parva, suitable as the second intermediate host in addition to our previous observation results.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Clonorchis sinensis ; epidemiology ; Cultriculus eigenmanni ; metacercaria ; intermediate host

In an attempt to clarify the epidemiological feature of distomiasis in Tongjin riverside area, the prevalence of distomiasis in the residents and infection rates of the metacercariae in fresh-water fishes were investigated at the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river from January to April 1984. The results obtained were summarized as follows: Out of a total of 931 fresh-water fishes which composed of 33 different species, 611 fishes (65.6 percent) of 31 species were found positive with digenetic trematode metacercariae of 16 different species, and there were some differences in infection rates of the metacercariae among the fishes in the3 parts of the river; 53.8 percent in upper, 80.7 percent in middle, and 61.0 percent in lower reaches, respectively. Infection rates of the metacercariae of Exorchis oviformis, Metagonimus yokogawai, Echinochasmus japonicus, Metorchis orientalis and Clonorchis sinensis in the fishes were 48 percent, 29 percent, 11 percent, 7.9 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively. The average number of the encysted larvae of Clonorchis found in fish body/gram showed 4.44 in Pseudorasbora parva, Gnathopogon coreanus (1.2), Microphysogobio yaluensis(0.76), Abbottina springeri(0.4), Acanthorhodeus asmussi (0.21) and Cultriculus eigenmanni (0.17), respectively. The average number of the metacercariae of Metagonimus found in fish body/gram disclosed 34.01 in Zacco platypus, Zacco temmincki (16.46), Carassius carassius (5.35), Moroco oxycephalus (1.54), Aphyocypris chinensis (1.5) and etc., respectively. Detection rates of the eggs of Clonorchis and Metagonimus among residents were 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, out of a total 923 persons.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; epidemiology ; Exorchis oviformis ; Metagonimus yokogawai ; Echinochasmus japonicus ; Metorchis orientalis ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Pseudorasbora parva ; Gnathopogon coreanus ; Microphysogobio yaluensis ; Abbottina springeri ; Acanthorhodeus asmussi ; Cultriculus eigenmanni

In order to clarify infestation pattern for the encysted larvae of digenetic trematodes from fresh-water fishes, this survey was carried out from March to September, 1983. A total of 380 fishes of 32 species were collected with netting at the three reaches, upper, middle and lower in Mangyeong riverside area. After the fishes were dissected into small scraps, they were pressed under cover glass and examined for the presence of those of digenetic trematodes with a microscope. The results obtained were as follows: Out of a total of 380 fishes inspected, 320 fishes (84 percent) from 31 species were found positive with digenetic trematode metacercariae; more than 10 species of the metacercariae were detected in Pseudorasbora parva; Gnathopogon majimae, Microphysogobio yaluensis, Cultriculus eigenmanni and Gnathopogon coreanus (more than 8 species); Aphyocypris chinensis(8 species) and etc. respectively. Clonorchis sinensis metacercariae were found positive from 93 fishes (25 percent) from 12 species detection rates in other species of digenetic trematode metacercariae from various fishes were; Exorchis oviformis, 261 fishes (57 percent) from 28 species; Cyathocotyle orientalis, 47 fishes (12 percent) from 12 species; Metorchis orientalis, 21 fishes (6 percent) from 12 species; Metagonimus yokogawai, 164 fishes (43 percent) from 26 species; Pseudexorchis major, 71 fishes (19 percent) from 18 species; Metacercaria hasegawai, 77 fishes (20 percent) from 25 species; Centrocestus armatus, 24 fishes (6 percent) from 7 species; Echinochasmus japonicus, 2 fishes (0.5 percent) from 2 species, and unidentified species, 34 fishes (9 percent) from 15 species respectively. The sums of average number of the encysted larvae of all species found in fish body/gram showed 83 in P. parva, Cobitis taenia (74.2), A. chinensis (28.5), Pseudoperilampus uyekii (26.6), G. majimae (19.6) and etc. respectively and the average peak number of each metacercaria in fish body/gram showed 21.7 C. sinensis, 24 E. oviformis , 15.3 M. orientalis and 6.1 E. japonicus in P. parva ; 42.7 C. orientalis and 25.1 M. yokogawai in C. taenia; 8.3 C. armatus and 8.3 M. hasegawai in P. uyekii; 6.3 P. major in Carassius carassius, and 2.9 unidentified species in G. majimae respectively.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Clonorchis sinensis ; epidemiology ; Pseudorasbora parva ; Gnathopogon majimae ; Microphysogobio yaluensis ; Cultriculus eigenmanni ; Gnathopogon coreanus ; Aphyocypris chinensis ; Cyathocotyle orientalis ; Metorchis orientalis ; Exorchis oviformis ; Metagonimus yokogawai ; Pseudexorchis major ; Metacercaria hasegawai ; Centrocestus armatus ; Echinochasmus japonicus