Korean Journal of
Veterinary Service

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is the pathogen of paratuberculosis called Johne's disease. Johne's disease is hardly eliminated because of its long latent period and continuous dissemination, so it is found in ruminants worldwide and can cause substantial economic losses in cattle. It has been reported in many studies on the distribution of Johne's disease in some provinces of Korea that not many, but noticeable numbers of infected cows have been detected since the first detection in 1984. The aims of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Johne's disease obtained from slaughtered cattle in central area of Gyeongnam province, Korea. In this study, the ELISA serum antibody test and PCR were employed on a total of 240 blood and ileac substrate samples from slaughtered cattle in two slaughtering and wholesale centers in Gyeongsangnam-do Livestock Veterinary Research Institute Central Branch. Out of the entire 240 blood samples, three (1.3%) were positive by ELISA, while five (2.1%) were suspected cattle. But ileac substrate samples, eight (3.3%) were positive by PCR. By breeds, positive rates of ELISA and PCR in Korean native cattle were 1.3% and 3.5%, respectively, but no positive cows were found in dairy cattle. By provinces, sero-positive rates of Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk were 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively. And PCR positive rates of Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk and other provinces were 2.4%, 5.0% and 2.8%, respectively. These results indicate that it requires the nationwide monitoring test and measure to deal with subclinically infected slaughtering cows.

Keywords: Johne's disease,Cattle,ELISA,PCR,