Until July 30th, 2019 when the first case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed, Serbia was a country free from ASF. After the owner reported atypical illness and death of a sow, the local veterinarian submitted the organ samples to the National Reference Laboratory for Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and African Swine Fever within the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia in Belgrade. Observed gross lesions included splenomegaly, serous edema of the wall of the gallbladder and hemorrhages in the enlarged portal lymph nodes, petechial hemorrhages on the kidney and epicardium, and petechial and echymotic hemorrhages on the mucosa of the urinary bladder. Results of real-time PCR confirmed that the cause of illness and death of the swine was African swine fever virus. The samples were sent for confirmation to the EU Reference Laboratory where it was confirmed that Serbian domestic pig virus isolates based on p72 belong to genotype II. In total, 270 pigs from 18 affected holdings were killed in the infected zones. According to the on-record data, mortality was 6.89%, whereas lethality reached 64.5%. Currently, an extensive surveillance program is being conducted, aiming to force passive surveillance. ASF in wild boar has not been confirmed so far.

The study was aimed at evaluating the presence of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in retailed raw chicken meat from retail stores intended for human consumption. The presence, characterization, and antibiotic susceptibility of S. aureus from 38 retail raw chicken meat samples was performed using a standard microbiological method involving mannitol salt agar (MSA) and Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA). All the samples were positive for Staphylococcus species, of which 34 (89.5%) were positive for S. aureus. The S. aureus isolates were most resistant to tetracycline (88.24%), erythromycin (82.35%), and chloramphenicol (61.77%). Nevertheless, decreased resistance towards gentamycin (23.53%) and cotrimoxazole (38.24%) were recorded. All the S. aureus isolates in this study were resistant to cloxacillin, amoxicillin, and augmentin (amoxicillin + clavulanic acid). The present findings show how the raw chicken meat samples could be a potential source of multidrug-resistant S. aureus strains dissemination. Therefore, this study suggests high-level contamination of meat with multidrug-resistant S. aureus and highlights the public health consequences of consuming such products. Undoubtedly, uncontrolled drugs in food animal production as growth stimulators or medicinal treatment present a possible consequence to people’s health. Having the aforementioned in mind, there is a necessity to control the use of drugs and monitor any residues left in the food intended for human consumption.

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The purpose of this paper is to understand how members of beekeeping associations, with long-standing sustainable traditions and products with registered geographical origins, perceive the investments in research and development (R&D) and new technological adoptions. By means of a binary logistic regression, the socio-demographic factors of the members of beekeeping associations predicting the investments in R&D and new technological adoptions were analyzed. Our findings point out that higher level of education and professional beekeeping experience predicts the willingness of investing in research and development. The higher level of education positively influences the willingness to hire professional consultants or bodies for the research and development of beekeeping practices. Serbian female beekeepers, beekeepers aged more than 41 years and professionally engaged beekeepers are more likely to admit that they need support of scientific and research institutions in the further development of beekeeping practices. A higher education has been shown to significantly predict the value added hive products due to new technology adoption. There is also a positive influence of the education level on new technology adoption.

The objective of this work was to present the first case of Brucella suis biovar 2 isolation in outdoor reared pigs in Serbia. B. suis biovar 2 has not previously been detected in Serbia, from either wild boar or outdoor reared pigs. In our case, brucellosis was discovered in the region of Srem, which geographically constitutes a part of northwestern Serbia. Outdoor reared pigs in the Srem region are part of an extensive breeding system in the field and woods. In the course of a random visit to a herd in the above-mentioned area, the animals' owner discovered two aborted fetuses, thereafter presented for laboratory examinations. B. suis biovar 2 was isolated from both fetuses. Isolated strains were identified using both classical and molecular techniques, including genomic sequencing. Based on epizootiological data, we were unable to establish the source of infection.