Assistant Professor Azusa Someya

■Area and Subject Taught：Microbiology (Bacteriology)
■Research Theme(s)：Study on pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and food-poisoning bacteria
■Academic Degrees：PhD (Veterinary), Yamaguchi University
■Keywords for Research Field： Bacteriology, Zoonosis
■Office Phone Number：81-75-705-3031　
■E-mail：someya@cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp

[Research Overview]

The microorganism exists in all places, and might threaten health of humans and animals at time. Zoonotic and food poisoning microorganism which can infect both animals and humans is greatly paid to attention in the contemporary society where relationships between humans and animals are various. Infected pathogens do not always cause same symptoms in animals and humans. For instance, Salmonella can cause foodborne illness such as fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and sometimes vomiting, through contaminated food, especially eggs. Bartonella is causative agent of “Cat Scratch Disease”, which is mostly transmitted by cat scratches or bites, and causes swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, fatigue, and a poor appetite. However, these bacteria are asymptomatic in their main host, chickens or cats. I am interested in how such bacterium causes these pathogenic differences.

 [Notable Publications and Works]

1. Ozaki,H., Esaki, H., Takemoto, K., Ikeda, A., Nakatani, Y., Someya, A., Hirayama, N., and Murase, T. Antimicrobial resistance in fecal Escherichia coli isolated from growing chickens on commercial broiler farms. Vet. Microbiol. In press.
2. Someya, A., Otsuki, K., and Murase, T. Characterization of Escherichia coli strains obtained from layer chickens affected with colibacillosis in a commercial egg-producing farm. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 2007.
3. Someya, A., Otsuki, K., and Murase, T. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Salmonella isolates obtained from layer chicken houses on a commercial egg-producing farm in Japan, 1997 to 2002. J. Food Prot. 68: 2030-2034. 2005.