A serological survey of Neospora caninum in imported cattle during 1996-1999 was conducted. Stored sera obtained from 1, 184 cattle originated from 30 herds were tested by IFA test, and 15 (50%) of 30 herds and 33 (2.8%) of 1, 184 cattle were sero-positive. The identified sero-prevalence in this study was lower than the one (5.7%) reported previously among domestic cattle.
There were no significant differences in the sero-prevalence among the factors such as countries, year, breed and sex. These results indicated that N. caninum were widely distributed without specific geographical or other factor related clusterings. Follow-up survey revealed that 8 cattle (28%) of 28 sero-positive cattle had abortions and stillbirth, and 2 of them were diagnosed as N. caninum infections.
The diagnostic results of IFA were highly in accordance with the ones by protein AG-ELISA, therefore, protein AG-ELISA may be a useful screening test for the cases of large sample size.

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From April 1999 to May 2000, fresh feces from 343 migratory aquatic birds representing 16 species, including snipes, plovers, and terns, were collected in Chiba and Ibaragi Prefectures, Japan, and examined for the presence of Vibrio spp. Vibrio spp. was isolated from 103 (30.0%) of the 343 samples. Among those positive samples, Vibrio cholerae were isolated from 54 (15.7%), and V. parahaemolyticus from 29 (8.5%) samples. The V. cholerae serovar O-1, which is known to be the principal causative agent of cholera, was not detected in any of the 343 samples. All the isolates were analyzed for the presence of cholera toxin (ctx), NAG-ST (stn), and El Tor hemolysin (hlyA) genes by PCR. Fifty-one point eight percent of the isolates (8.8% of the samples) harbored the hlyA gene, and all the isolates were negative for the ctx and stn genes. Moreover, none of the V. parahaemolyticus strains harbored the thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) gene. These results indicate that migratory aquatic birds coming from abroad have a high infection rate with V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus. All the V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus isolates were non-pathogenic, though a number of the V. cholerae strains possessed the hlyA gene, which has been identified in the majority of isolates obtained from the environment. Therefore, it was concluded that the migratory aquatic birds sampled might be not a reservoir of those pathogens, but, rather, reflect the distribuional conditions of Vibrio spp. in the environment in which those birds live.

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The present study investigated the prevalence of mammary tumors observed in small breed dogs mostly in Tokyo metropolitan area. The prevalence of mammary tumors was 7.9% on the whole, and prevalence was the highest (31.6%) in Miniature Schnauzer. Next, it was 13.9%, 13.0%, 12.7% and 9.8% for Maltese, in Shetland Sheep-Dog, Yorkshire Terrier and Pomeranian, respectively, concerning the breed of dogs. On the size of tumor, 3 cm or less in diameter were the common as 80.6% in the prevalence, and growing location was approximately twice as likely in the caudal glands of the 4th and 5th mammary glands compared to the cranial glands of the 1st to 3rd ones. Histopathologically, the prevalence of malignant tumor was high as 93.0% as, while benign tumor was 7.0%. Mixed-typed tumor of malignant and benign tumors was observed in 17.9%. Adenocarcinoma was observed in 37.3% in each case, intraductal papillary adenocarcinoma in 24.9%, malignant mixed tumor in 67.2%, benign mixed tumor in 22.9%, and malignant myoepithelioma in 1.5%. The histopathological characteristics of tumor were not associated with the breeds of dogs.

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