Risk factors for fecal shedding of Salmonella from horses in a veterinary teaching hospital.

This research investigates and identifies the contributing factors that increase the risk of horses in a veterinary hospital setting shedding Salmonella through their feces. The primary factor identified was the presenting complaint, which is significantly associated with positive Salmonella-culture results, indicating an elevated risk of infection among the horse population.

Methodology and Objectives

• The main objective of this study was to determine the risk factors for fecal shedding of Salmonella among horses in a veterinary teaching hospital. This involved investigating factors that could potentially increase the risk of horses excreting Salmonella in their feces, contributing to the spread of the bacteria within the hospital environment.
• The researchers used fecal samples from 230 hospitalized horses, which were cultured to detect the presence of Salmonella spp. This offered a direct method to identify the occurrence of bacterial infection among the hospitalized horse population.
• A total of 21 potential risk factors were identified based on historical data. These factors were evaluated for their association with the risk of a horse testing positive for Salmonella using a forward stepwise logistic regression analysis.

Results and Findings

• Salmonella was isolated from 13 out of the 230 horses. The bacteria were most commonly found in either the first or second sample collected, indicating that Salmonella might be prevalent among the horse population shortly after hospitalization.
• The presenting complaint was identified as the only factor significantly associated with a horse testing positive for Salmonella, with evidence confounded by age, breed, and gender. This could mean, for instance, that a horse suffering from lower-respiratory-tract disease might have an increased likelihood of shedding Salmonella.
• Even after removing statistical outliers, the analysis of residuals suggested that the model was reliable, but the estimates of individual risk factors changed, indicating that such outliers influence the risk factor estimates.

Conclusion

• The overall results suggest that the presenting complaint is the crucial indicator of a horse’s Salmonella culture status in a veterinary hospital. This finding could help clinicians identify horses at a higher risk of infection and enforce appropriate biosecurity measures to control the spread of Salmonella.