Six slaughter batches deriving from six typical industrial broiler flocks were examined for the presence, quantity and genetic characteristics of contaminating Campylobacter jejuni during various stages of slaughtering and carcass processing. The results of this study suggest that the majority of Campylobacter carcass contamination in poultry processing plants occurs in the early stages of the slaughtering process, by Campylobacter strains deriving from the intestines of that particular batch, most probably during the defeathering process. Three-day refrigeration and three-day freezing caused a considerable drop in mean C. jejuni CFU counts. Genotyping results from the slaughterhouse environment isolates indicate that cross-contamination is possible, which was, however, not confirmed in carcasses as they seem to be contaminated by their own caecal/farm/flock pulsotype.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3987578
This paper describes susceptibility patterns, virulence gene profile, clonality and epidemiology of community associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in Slovenia. Among 151 isolates, the mecA gene was detected in 150 isolates, while the mecC gene only in 1 isolate. The MRSA isolates were classified to 19 different clones. The most prevalent sequence types were ST5 (26.4%), ST45 (25.2%), ST22 (10.6%), ST398 (9.9%), ST8 (5.9%), ST7 (4.6%), ST1 (3.9%), ST152/377 (3.3%), ST228 (2.6%) and ST2883 (1.3%). The ST6, ST9, ST30, ST72, ST88, ST111, ST130, ST225 and ST772 were identified sporadically. The Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene was detected in 13 (8.6%) isolates that belonged to ST5, ST7, ST8, ST22, ST72, ST88, ST 152/377 and ST772.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32015833
Beauvericin (BEA) is an emerging mycotoxin mainly produced by fungus Beauveria bassiana and one of the most common grain-contaminating genus of fungi Fusarium spp. Results from the study indicate that BEA has neurotoxic and myotoxic effects, which overlap in a narrow range of concentration.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4093818
In the years 2006-2008 and 2010-2012 238 samples of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were collected, to study the prevalence of noroviruses from harvesting areas along the Adriatic coast of Slovenia. From 9.1 % to 24.6 % of mussels’ samples were detected positive during 2006 and 2008 by specific GI and/or GII real-time RT-PCR methods, while between 2010 and 2012 the percentage varied from 12.5 % to 22.2 %. High genetic diversity of NoV detected in mussels was observed in Slovenia, with 58.4 and 99.6 % nucleotide identity in RdRp gene between positive samples. The detected NoV share the same topology on phylogenetic tree with NoV strains from many different countries, genotyped as GII.4, GII.b and GI.2, and are far away from Slovenia, confirming that mussel in harvesting areas are not contaminated only from the surrounding area but also with contaminated water and sewage from big transport ships, which are regularly present in area.
COBISS.SI-ID: 4004986
A research was undertaken to ascertain the rate of the veterinary ionophore antibiotic lasalocid degradation in manure under different storage conditions (aging in a pile or composting) and on agricultural soil after using lasalocid-contaminated manure. The results have shown that there is a considerable difference in lasalocid degradation between aging manure with no treatment and composting. Half-lives in soil are much shorter than in manure and compost. On the basis of the measured concentrations of lasalocid in soil after manure application, we can conclude that it can potentially be harmful to soil organisms (PEC/PNEC ratio of 1.18), but only in a worst-case scenario of using the maximum permissible amount of manure and immediately after application. To make certain that no harmful effects occur, composting is recommended.
COBISS.SI-ID: 3674363