During October–December 2015, an epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreak occurred in cattle in Japan. Forty-six animals displayed fever, anorexia, cessation of rumination, salivation, and dysphagia. Virologic, serologic, and pathologic investigations revealed the causative agent was epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus serotype 6. Further virus characterization is needed to determine virus pathogenicity.

In June 2015, a highly fatal and acute disease broke out in a duckling farm in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The birds exhibited poor growth, reduced movement, lying in a dorsal recumbent position, depression, lethargy, ataxia and opisthotonus, with a high mortality rate of approximately 76%. By performing a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers specific for duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1), we obtained the PCR products of a predicted size. The nucleotide sequences of the PCR products showed a >96% identity with that of the DHAV-1, HB02 strain, which was isolated in China. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the DHAV-1 virus has been isolated since its outbreak in Japan in 1963.

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Eight Japanese Black breeding cows in a farm holding 120 cows showed anorexia, discouragement, swelled pastern and lameness within a few days after changing roughage to tall fescue straw imported from the United States. One cow of the five severely affected animals the hoof capsule of its right hind leg. The suspected straw contained 1,200 g/kg ergovaline, while the level of lolitrem B was below the detection limit (50 g/kg). Nitrate nitrogen concentration of the straw was 630 mg/kg. Anorexia and discouragement were also observed in the cattle at one of the eight farms using tall fescue straw from the same shipment. From these observations, we diagnosed this case as fescue foot, although experimental feeding of the suspected straw to Japanese Black cows failed to reproduce clinical signs observed in the field case.