Horse owners’ biosecurity practices following the first equine influenza outbreak in Australia.

The research investigates the biosecurity practices and perceptions of horse owners in Australia, a year after the 2007 equine influenza outbreak. It identifies factors associated with poor biosecurity compliance.

Methodology

• A cross-sectional study involving 759 horse owners was conducted to determine their biosecurity practices and perceptions following the equine influenza outbreak.
• A survey link was emailed to 1224 horse owners as an extension of a previous study. The questionnaire aimed to obtain information about their perceptions and practices of biosecurity, effects of the 2007 influenza outbreak, demographic information, and horse industry involvement.
• Ordinal logistic regression analyses were implemented to evaluate factors linked to poor biosecurity practices.
• The research team categorized the frequency of usage of different biosecurity measures as four levels of compliance: never, not very often, low, medium, and high.
• Variables with a univariable p-value ≤0.2 were eligible for inclusion in a multivariable model that was built using a manual stepwise approach.
• Those variables with a p-value <0.05 in multivariable models were preserved in the final model.
• Age and gender of participants were included in the final model irrespective of their p-values as potential confounders.

Findings

• The study found that almost thirty percent of the respondents had low biosecurity compliance, performing such practices ‘not very often’ or ‘never’.
• The factors identified that were associated with lower biosecurity compliance included younger people, people with two or more children, those not involved commercially with horses, as well as those who had no long-term business impacts resulting from the 2007 equine influenza outbreak.
• Horse owners who were not afraid of a future influenza outbreak in Australia or believed their current hygiene and access control practices were not very effective in protecting their horses, also had poor biosecurity practices.

Conclusion

• This observational study identified factors tied to a group of horse owners exhibiting low biosecurity compliance.
• As this cross-sectional study only examined associations, the identified factors should be further researched to consider them in the design of extension activities aimed at enhancing horse owners’ biosecurity compliance.