Infections caused by extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) are a serious public health problem worldwide. The most troublesome are urinary tract infections, severe neonatal meningitis, serious intraabdominal infections, and more rarely, pneumonia, intravascular-device infections,...

Swine are one of significant reservoirs and sources of Leptospira infections for man. Serological screenings help to effectively control the epidemiological situation in swine herds and to prevent transmission of Leptospira from animals to man. The purpose of this study was to investigate, by the use of serological methods, the prevalence of infections caused by selected Leptospira serogroups in swine population in Poland. A total of 7112 swine serum samples were examined. The samples were collected from January to October 2008 and came from 280 counties situated in all 16 provinces of Poland. All sera were examined preliminary by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using heat-stable antigenic preparation. The samples positive or doubtful in ELISA were investigated by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) with use of serovars Icterohaemorrhagiae, Pomona, Canicola, Sejroe, Tarassovi and Of the collected sera examined by ELISA 73 (1.02%) samples were positive, 85 (1.20%)--doubtful and 6954--negative. Among ELISA-positive and doubtful sera 64 samples (coming from 14 provinces) were recognized in MAT as positive. Among MAT positive samples 42.19% of sera demonstrated titres with serovar Pomona, 32.81%--with Sejroe, 14.06%--with Icterohaemorrhagiae, 6.25%--with Tarassovi, 3.13%--with Grippotyphosa and 1.56% with Canicola.

Blood serum samples collected from randomly selected groups of 32 pigs and 41 cows reared in farms belonging to the rural community “A” located in eastern Poland and exposed to the Vistula river floods, and serum samples from groups of 41 pigs and 40 cows from farms belonging to the rural community “B” located also in eastern Poland but not in the area exposed to floods, were examined by the microscopic agglutination test for the presence of antibodies against 18 Leptospira serovars. The percentage of serum samples presenting positive results with at least one serovar were higher in pigs and cows from community “A” comparing to community “B” (34.4% vs. 4.9% and 26.8% vs. 15.0%, respectively). In the case of pigs, the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0015). The reactions with 12 Leptospira serovars (Australis, Bataviae, Bratislava, Canicola, Hardjo, Hebdomadis, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Pomona, Poi, Cynopteri, Grippotyphosa, Celledoni,), belonging to four species (L. interrogans, L. borgpetersenii, L. kirschneri, L. weili) were found in the examined animals. In community “B”, six reactions with one serovar and two reactions with two serovars were noted whereas in community “A” - 19 reactions with one serovar, one reaction with two serovars and two reactions with six serovars were observed. The titres in animals reared in community “A” were significantly higher (up to 25,600) compared to community “B” (up to 200, P=0.0094). The obtained results suggest that the exposure to flooding may increase the infection rate in pigs and cows from afflicted areas to some extent.

The aim of the study was a preliminary determination of occurrence of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)- and AmpC-producing Escherichia coli (E.coli) in raw meat samples collected from slaughter-houses located in different regions of Poland. A total of 141 samples were tested, comprising 78 pork samples, 44 beef samples, and 19 chicken meat samples. Isolated and identified E. coli strains were examined for the ESBL and/or AmpC β-lactamases production by the use of four disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration tests. All strains positive in one or both tests were examined by PCR for the presence of the bla_CTX, bla_TEM, bla_SHV, and bla_{CMY-2 group} genes. During the study, 154 E. coli strains were isolated from 95 samples. Among these, 18 (11.7%) strains were identified in phenotypic tests as ESBL-producing and seven (4.5%) strains as AmpC-positive. The presence of the genes encoding selected ESBL-s (TEM, CTX, SHV) was identified in 14 of the strains recognised as ESBLpositive in phenotypic tests. All AmpC-positive isolates showed the presence of the CMY-2 group encoding genes. One of these strains had also the CTX-M and TEM genes, and four of them expressed the TEM marker.

Leptospirosis is one of the most common zoonotic infections worldwide, including in most livestock, some companion animals, horses, wildlife, and humans. Epidemiological estimation of its prevalence in all species is difficult due to the variety of clinical presentations and challenges regarding laboratory diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to measure the seroprevalence of leptospiral infection in Arabian horses kept in the largest breeding farms in Poland, representing over 15% of the Polish Arabian horse population. Leptospira antibodies were detected by MAT (cut-off 1:100) in 33.2% of serum samples (204 of 615 animals) (CI 95%: 29.6–37.0%), most frequently reacting with the serovar Grippotyphosa, similar to previous reports in populations of randomly selected horses. These results indicated high Leptospira seropositivity, thus, although any form of clinical leptospirosis is rare, it may be postulated that the leptospiral exposure is widespread.