Salmonella infection is a disease taken very seriously by equine veterinarians, partly because it can cause severe gastrointestinal disease in their patients, and also because it can do the same to the veterinarians and hospital staff. Thus, most equine hospitals have biosecurity measures in place to avoid the spread of Salmonella (or any other infectious organism) that comes into the hospital.

"Most large animal hospitals have a 'zero tolerance' goal for nosocomial (hospital-acquired) salmonellosis," noted Harold C. Schott, II, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, professor of large animal clinical sciences at Michigan State University (MSU). He discussed the evolution of the Salmonella biosecurity program at MSU over the last 10 years during the 2009 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 6-10 in Las Vegas, Nev.

"Although zero tolerance may be the goal, infectious organisms can be introduced to a hospital with any horse (healthy or sick), and spread between patients can occur rapidly," he said. "Thus, the true goal of a biosecurity program is to rapidly identify when 'bad bugs' may enter a hospital and limit the risk of spread to other horses and/or personnel. Further, biosecurity programs often need to be tailored for both the infectious agent and specific hospital design."

Numerous measures are typically used in biosecurity programs, he said