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An eight-year-old, 4.9 kg, intact male mongrel dog presented with progressive weight loss, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhoea, and open-mouth breathing. A thoracic radiograph showed significant pleural effusion. Upon removal of the pleural effusion, an oval-shaped soft-tissue density mass was identified above the heart base. Two months later, the dog's condition worsened severely, and he was euthanised. A complete necropsy showed all intrathoracic structures were encapsulated by a fibrinous material. A large granuloma was attached between the right cranial lung lobe and the trachea. The cytological evaluation of the pleural effusion showed numerous negative-staining rod structures. Ziehl-Neelsen staining confirmed the presence of acid-fast bacilli. A polymerase chain reaction test confirmed Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. This work is the first case report of canine pulmonary M. tuberculosis infection in South Korea. To the best of our knowledge, the formation of giant tubercles in canine pulmonary tuberculosis has not been reported recently.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of a topical skin cream containing a mixture of emu oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, and tea tree oil against the canine skin pathogens Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Malassezia pachydermatis. Three S. pseudintermedius isolates from dogs and a type strain of M. pachydermatis were used. Based on the standards of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimal bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) were determined. In addition, microbial inactivation time was determined for both pathogens. The MICs against S. pseudintermedius and M. pachydermatis were 0.23% and 0.63%, while the MBC/MFCs were 7.5% and 5%, respectively. In assessments of the microbial inactivation time, after 12 h of incubation with the cream, the growth of both pathogens was completely inhibited. These results suggest that the skin cream tested here can be used as a substitute for generally used antibiotic/antifungal agents.

A one-year-old, intact female, Yorkshire terrier dog was presented with a six-month history of multifocal, polycyclic erythematous lesions with epidermal collarette formation at the axillae, the trunk and ventral abdomen. The dog had a history of an inappropriate vaccine administration one day prior to the onset of clinical signs. The histopathology of the lesions revealed apoptosis of keratinocytes in the overlying epidermis, hydropic degeneration and lymphocytic exocytosis. The clinical signs and histopathology of the lesions were compatible with erythema multiforme. The skin lesions resolved after treatment with prednisolone combined with azathioprine for one month. No recurrence of clinical signs occurred during the follow-up period (four months). This is the first case report of erythema multiforme associated with an accidental subcutaneous injection of a Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccine.

The Osteoporosis Self-assessment Tool for Asians (OSTA) was developed to help physicians focus their efforts on patients at increased risk, and encourage appropriate use of bone mineral density (BMD) measurements. Previously, OSTA performed well in a sample of women from eight countries in Asia, and in a validation group of Japanese women. In this study, we evaluate the performance of OSTA using a sample of 1101 postmenopausal women from a clinic in Korea who had femoral neck BMD measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The OSTA had a high sensitivity (87%), and good specificity (67%) for identifying osteoporosis (BMD T-scores ≤ -2.5); the corresponding values were 80% and 72% for identifying T-scores ≤ -2.0. The prevalence of osteoporosis ranged from 2% among women classified as low risk (OSTA > -1) to 64% among those classified as high risk (OSTA < -4); these results were almost identical to those reported earlier for a sample of women from eight Asian countries. We conclude that the OSTA risk tool performed well in this sample of postmenopausal Korean women, similar to previous results in other Asian women. The OSTA tool is free and very easy to use; risk can be tabulated by age and weight, so that calculations are not necessary. Using OSTA could encourage patients and clinicians to actively assess osteoporosis, and measure BMD when appropriate, before fractures occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]