General public health considerations for responding to animal hoarding cases.

Animal hoarding is an under-recognized problem that exists in most communities and adversely impacts the health, welfare, and safety of humans, animals, and the environment. These guidelines address public health and worker safety concerns in handling situations where animal hoarding or other dense concentrations of animals have caused unhealthy and unsafe conditions. Because animal hoarding situations are often complex, a full response is likely to be prolonged and require a cross-jurisdictional multiagency effort. Each animal hoarding case has unique circumstances related to the types and numbers of animals involved, the physical structure(s) where they are being kept, and the health status of the animals, among other factors that must be taken into account in planning a response. Some general public health considerations and associated recommendations for personal protective equipment use are presented that apply to all cases, however.

Extended-spectrum-cephalosporin resistance in Salmonella enterica isolates of animal origin.

A total of 112 out of 5,709 Salmonella enterica isolates from domestic animal species exhibited decreased susceptibilities to ceftiofur and ceftriaxone, and each possessed the blaCMY gene. Ten Salmonella serotypes were significantly more likely to include resistant isolates. Isolates from turkeys, horses, cats, and dogs were significantly more likely to include resistant isolates.

Multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, United States, 1997-1998.

To evaluate multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium, including definitive type 104 (DT104) in the United States, we reviewed data from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). In 1997 to 1998, 703 (25%) of 2,767 serotyped Salmonella isolates received at NARMS were S. Typhimurium; antimicrobial susceptibility testing and phage typing were completed for 697. Fifty-eight percent (402) were resistant to > or = 1 antimicrobial agent. Three multidrug-resistant (> or = 5 drugs) strains accounted for (74%) 296 of all resistant isolates. Ceftriaxone resistance was present in 8 (3%), and nalidixic acid resistance in 4 (1%), of these multidrug-resistant strains. By phage typing, 259 (37%) of S. Typhimurium isolates were DT104, 209 (30%) were of undefined type and 103 (15%) were untypable. Fifty percent (202) of resistant (> or = 1 drug) isolates were DT104. Multidrug-resistant S. Typhimurium isolates, particularly DT104, account for a substantial proportion of S. Typhimurium isolates; ceftriaxone resistance is exhibited by some of these strains.

Risk factors for fecal quinolone-resistant Escherichia coli in Mexican children.

We determined the prevalence of, and risk factors for, fecal quinolone-resistant Escherichia coli (QREC) in 324 children from Yucatan, Mexico. QREC was higher in children with recent Salmonella infection (100%) than in children with diarrhea (61%) or healthy children (54%) (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis identified recent hospitalization of a family member (P = 0.011, odds ratio [OR] = 5.1) and carriage of Salmonella (P = 0.004, OR = 3.7) as independent risk factors for QREC.

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Salmonella isolates from cattle in feedlots.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Salmonella isolates from feedlot cattle. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SAMPLE POPULATION: 263 Salmonella isolates. PROCEDURES: Fecal samples were collected from the floor of 2 pens in each of 100 feedlots. Two hundred eighty Salmonella isolates were recovered after bacteriologic culture from 38 pens. Of these, 263 isolates were available for antimicrobial susceptibility testing to 16 antimicrobials, using microbroth dilution breakpoint plates. RESULTS: Less than 5% of isolates were resistant to any of the antimicrobials tested, with the exception of sulfamethoxazole (15; 5.7%) and tetracycline (61; 23.2%). Most isolates (197; 74.9%) were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested, whereas 18 (6.8%) were resistant to 2 or more antimicrobials. The percentage of isolates with resistance to any antimicrobial varied by serotype. The percentage of isolates resistant to various antimicrobials was not related to concurrent use of antimicrobials in the feed. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: With the exception of tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole, resistance of Salmonella isolates to any of the antimicrobials was uncommon. Most isolates were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested. Antimicrobial resistance was not related to the presence of antimicrobials in the ration being fed at the time of sample collection.