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Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) are spread throughout the world, including Slovenia, where the first evidence of caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) infection was found in 1996. This study was conducted to investigate the molecular and genetic characteristics of SRLV infection in Slovenia in order to classify our strains in relation to other known SRLV strains worldwide as well as to establish molecular techniques in concordance with serology. In this study, 340 goats and sheep were tested. Serological examination revealed that 57% of the goats and only 14% of the sheep were seropositive. The results of this study also show that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) used in this study is less reliable than ELISA, with only 60.6% of the seropositive animals being PCR positive. Thirty-eight nucleotide sequences of the gag region encoding the matrix protein were determined and compared to sequences derived from the GenBank, revealing that Slovenian SRLV strains belong to sequence groups A and B, being maedivisna virus (MVV) and CAEV-like, respectively. In one goat herd, the presence of more than one genotype was confirmed and the majority of goat SRLV sequences were more closely related to MVV than to CAEV prototype strains.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in shellfish samples harvested along the Slovenian coast. Shellfish samples of Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were collected along the Slovenian coast at four locations (Seča, Piran, Strunjan and Debeli Rtič) between 2006 and 2008. Samples were examined and analysed for the presence of V. parahaemolyticus by conventional and molecular methods. The presence of Vibrio in the samples was examined by conventional methods on plate grown bacterial cells before and after enrichment in alkaline saline peptone water (ASPW). PCR methods were used for the detection of V. parahaemolyticus-specific toxR and tlh genes and of the virulence-associated tdh and trh genes. Out of 168 samples examined, 24 were positive for toxR and tlh genes by PCR from enrichment broth. Five out of 62 (8.1%), 4 out of 32 (12.5%) and 15 out of 74 (20.2%) samples were positive in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. Colonies of V. parahaemolyticus were isolated from only one sample positive for V. parahaemolyticus by PCR.

In 2004 and then in 2006 several outbreaks of infectious bursal disease (IBD) were reported in broiler and broiler breeder flocks in Slovenia. In this report ten recently emerged IBD viruses (IBDV) were characterised by sequence analysis of the VP2 hypervariable region and compared to previous Slovene IBDV strains from 1995/1996 and to some representative serotype 1 IBDV strains of different pathotypes. On the basis of nucleotide and amino acid identities, phylogenetic analyses and the presence of very virulent IBDV (vvIBDV) conserved amino acid substitutions, all Slovene isolates from recent outbreaks were identified as vvIBDV. Although some unique nucleotide exchanges and amino acid substitutions have been observed, the results of this study indicated that recent vvIBDV isolates are closely related with those from outbreaks in the 1990s. However, acute IBD has not been reported in commercial flocks in Slovenia for some years. This could lead to the conclusion that poor biosecurity and relaxed vaccination could be responsible for the re-emergence of vvIBDV.

The objective of this study was to characterise porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) from pigs with naturally occurring postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in Croatia, and to determine the epizootiological, clinical and pathomorphological features of the disease. During a systematic health monitoring programme conducted in the period from January 2002 to June 2003, PMWS was suspected on eight different pig-producing farms in Croatia. The diagnosis of PMWS met all three key criteria: the presence of compatible clinical signs, the presence of the characteristic microscopic lymphoid lesions, and the detection of PCV2 within the lesions by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by in situ hybridisation (ISH). Moreover, PCV2 DNA from swine tissues was extracted and sequenced. The phylogenetic analysis of 4 Croatian PCV2 strains showed close relationship to PCV2 strains isolated in Slovenia, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, China and Hungary. PCV2 was also demonstrated by electron microscopy in the lymph node of an affected animal. This is the first demonstration of PMWS in Croatia based on all scientifically accepted diagnostic criteria.