66
46TH
ANNUAL
CONGRESS
OF
THE
SAEVA
SKUKUZA
16-‐20
FEBRUARY
2014
Biosecurity Measures of
Veterinarians Engaged in Equine
Reproduction in USA and Canada
Ulrika Grönlund, Department of Animal Health and Antimicrobial Strategies,
National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden.
[email protected]
Healthy horses are the key to a sustainable equine industry. Biosecurity plays a vital
role in both individual horse and herd health. Biosecurity consists of procedures and
practices that are designed to reduce the risk of introduction or spread of infectious
agents on a farm, thereby reducing the incidence of disease in horses, the likelihood
of outbreaks and infections of horse farm personnel and veterinarians. In addition, in
times when antimicrobial resistant bacteria are emerging among both humans and
animal, development of preventive measures for infectious diseases is even more
important.
On a breeding farm, infectious agents and antimicrobial resistant bacteria can be
transmitted among animals by a variety of routes, including direct horse-to-horse
contact, and indirect contact through the use of contaminated equipment (including,
but not limited to artificial vaginas and breeding phantoms) and personnel (hands and
clothing). Many infectious agents are spread directly or indirectly through hands.
Hand hygiene can be done through washing of hands and/or by using alcohol based
hand sanitizer.
The objectives were to describe biosecurity measures taken by
veterinarians engaged in equine reproduction to avoid spread of
infectious agents and to understand the reasons behind certain
behaviors.
A web-based questionnaire was based on the American Association of Equine
Practitioners (AAEP) Biosecurity Guidelines for Control of Venereally Transmitted
Diseases (2011). The survey was launched during the autumn of 2012 through AAEP
newsletters with an iPad as an incentive for veterinarians to participate. Ethical
consent was given by the University of Guelph Research Ethics Board (REB), Guelph,
Canada.
Descriptive analyses were used.
In total, there were 21 respondents (18 where from USA, 2 from Canada and one
unspecified) to the questionnaire, answers were collected during November 2012.
All 21 respondants answered the question, unless stated otherwise.
Age of the respondents ranged from 27 years to 79 with a median of 51 years. All of
the respondents were members of AAEP and had been in equine reproduction
practice for between 2 and 45 years (median=25 years). They did reproductive exam
or breeding soundness evaluation in 10 to 1000 mares on average per year
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