ARS | Publication request: NATIONAL ANIMAL HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM (NAHMS) EQUINE '98 STUDY SALMONELLA SPP. FECAL SHEDDING IN THE U.S. HORSE POPULATION & PRESENCE OF SALMONELLA SPP. IN GRAIN SOURCES ON EQUINE OPERATIONS 1998-1999

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Equine Infectious Disease Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: August 15, 2000
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The national Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) is an nonregulatory unit with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Since 1990, NAHMS has provided information on baseline management practices and assisted with identification of emerging issues for national swine, dairy, beef cow-calf, beef feedlot, sheep, and catfish populations. For the first time, NAHMS is addressing the needs of the equine industry through a study initiated in the spring of 1998 (Equine '98) of equine health and management. A representative sample of premises was selected by the National Agricultural Statistic Service (NASS) to ensure statistical validity. Twenty-eight states were included in the study, which accounted for 78.2% of the U.S. 1992 census horses and 78% of farms with horses. The serotypes of Salmonella spp. Shed, the prevalence of fecal shedding in the summer versus the winter by a representative sample of horses and foals on a regional and national basis, and the prevalence of Salmonella spp. In horses' grain sources have not been previously explored to the authors' knowledge. Thus the results of the NAHMS Equine '98 Study should shed light on the difference between fecal shedding by the general horse population compared to horses that are taken to a veterinary hospital with clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease or those sampled as part of the hospital population.