This study evaluated the efficacy of the detection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) in environmental samples as a screening test to determine a herd's paratuberculosis (PTB) status. MAP DNA was detected in environmental samples from 29 herds at the point of detection of MAP-infected cattle. A logistic regression model was used to assess the association between the probability of detection and the amount of viable MAP in the feces (shedding level: SL) of MAP-infected cattle. The probability of detection increased with increasing the SL of MAP-infected cattle. The SL of MAP-infected cattle associated with a 90% probability of detection was 7.8×10¹ CFU/g. Environmental sampling will make it possible to detect herds including less infectious cattle, and it is simple and cost-effective. It is suggested that repeated environmental sampling will contribute to the progress of the PTB eradication program in Japan.

Neonatal piglets less than one week old had watery yellowish feces on a swine farm in Mie Prefecture, Japan in August 2014. Although the diarrhea ended in the farrowing house after eight days, fifteen piglets died in the meantime. At the necropsy, common gross lesions included mesocolonic edema. The colonic contents were assayed with a commercially available enzyme immunoassay that detects Clostridium difficile (CD) or its toxin, and CD was detected in piglets that had fibrinous colitis. CD was isolated from the colonic and/or rectum contents of the piglets. Histopathologically, segmental erosions were observed in the colonic mucosa, producing volcano lesions (exudation of neutrophils and fibrin into the lumen). Gram-positive bacteria and Clostridium antigens were detected around segmental erosion by Gram staining and immunohistochemical staining using anti-Clostridium. The present case was suspected to be Clostridium difficile infection.

A 5-year-old spayed female Abyssinian cat had intermittent vomitting. Using gastrointestinal endoscopy, a massive lesion was found in the gastric mucosa. A diagnosis of Helicobacter infection was made, and gastric small B-cell lymphoma was diagnosed using cytopathology and histopathology of endoscopic samples. However, the samples were negative for lymphoid clonality. The cat was treated with Helicobacter eradication therapy for 30 days without any anticancer drugs. As a result, the symptoms resolved, and the lymphoma achieved complete remission. The recurrence of lymphoma in the gastric mucosa was not observed after one year of therapy, although a mild Helicobacter infection presisted.