We analyzed the properties of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) isolated from an Australian dairy breeding herd in which cattle persistently infected with BVDV (PI cattle) were detected during the import quarantine period, and the BVDV neutralizing antibody titer in the imported herd was measured. The isolate was grouped in subtype 1c. The isolate showed high cross-reactivity to the immune sera of the 1a vaccine strain in Japan. This suggests that vaccines which are marketed in Japan are effective in the prevention of the spread of isolates. Cattle imported from Australia were vaccinated with the BVDV-1c inactivated vaccine prior to export to Japan. When the neutralizing antibody titers in the initial serum of the research herd were examined, they possessed a high antibody titer (GM value, 1:510) against the 1c. Antibodies that are thought to cross-react against 1a, 1b sub-genotypes and type 2 strains were also detected, which are commonly isolated in Japan. Furthermore, the rise of the neutralizing antibody attributable to the existence of the PI cattle was recognized in 30 of the 166 cattle.

Two Japanese Black cows exhibited fever, loss of appetite and watery diarrhea. One of them became unable to stand after excreting pseudomembranes and then died. A necropsy revealed thickened mucosa and hemorrhage from jejunum to rectum, and enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes. Listeria monocytogenes (serotype 4b) was isolated in the bacteriological examination of major organs, mesenteric lymph nodes, and the contents of the intestines. A pathological examination revealed necrotic enteritis with a severe invasion of mononuclear cells and lymphangitis, and immunohistochemically, the L. monocytogenes (serotype 4b) antigen was often observed in the cytoplasm of macrophages and bacteria-like structures. Based on the above results, the cattle were diagnosed as having enteric listeriosis due to L. monocytogenes (serotype 4b).

Three broiler chickens with ciliated hepatic foregut cysts (CHFC), 46 to 50 days of age, were subjected to a pathological investigation. The ellipsoidal cysts, measuring 40 to 50 mm in the greatest dimension, were closely attached to the capsule of the visceral surface of the right hepatic lobe. Each cyst was solitary, unilocular and possessed greenish gelatinous mucus in the lumen. Histologically, all cystic walls consisted of lining epithelia, subepithelial connective tissues, one to three layers of smooth muscular tissue and fibrous capsules. The lining epithelia were pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelia with occasional goblet cells and mucous glands and simple non-ciliated columnar epithelia containing numerous mucous granules in the apical part of their cytoplasm. Based on the obtained results which are consistent with the histological features of CHFC in humans and the facts reported previously that chicken embryos have ciliated epithelia in their esophageal mucosa, the examined cases were diagnosed as CHFC in chickens. The communication between each cyst and bile trees was suggested by the greenish cyst contents, although the communication was not observed pathologically. This is the first report of CHFC in chickens.