Probably one of the most well-attended equine sessions of the forum was a lunchtime discussion sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health, in which a panel of internists presented information on recent outbreaks of salmonella and fielded questions from attendees. Salmonella bacteria can cause debilitating intestinal problems and life-threatening diarrhea. Salmonella can affect foals and adults, and it is spread easily by horse-to-horse contact and by fomites (shared tools, water buckets, hands, etc., on which bacteria can "hitch a ride" to the next victim). Seemingly well horses can harbor the bacteria, and when stressed, they can shed it or become ill.

So an ill horse that’s stressed by traveling and adapting to a hospital environment is a prime candidate to shed Salmonella bacteria, even if that wasn’t the orginal illness.

Practitioners from several university hospitals and private facilities say their practices are spending $10,000-$30,000 per year on surveillance of incoming horses for Salmonella, and that it has paid off for them. An outbreak of the disease among hospital patients is deleterious for animals with already compromised health.

"We need to be logical about the transmission risk and segregating different horses," explained Paul Morley, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, associate professor, Epidemiology and Biosecurity, director of Biosecurity, James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital director, Animal Population Health Institute, Colorado State University. "This is part of the basic structure of a sound biosecurity program," he said. "But we don’t really know how much is enough