title: Investigating the prevalence of Salmonella in dogs within the Midlands region of the United Kingdom.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The intimate relationship between dogs and their owners has the potential to increase the risk of human exposure to bacterial pathogens. Over the past 40 years, there have been several reports on transmission of salmonellae from dogs to humans. This study therefore aimed to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in the faeces of dogs from the Midlands region of the United Kingdom to assess exposure risk and potential for zoonotic transmission.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 436 apparently healthy dogs without diarrhoea from households (n = 126), rescue centres (n = 96), boarding kennels (n = 43), retired greyhound kennels (n = 39) and a pet nutrition facility (n = 132) were investigated for Salmonella shedding. Faecal samples were processed by an enrichment culture based method. The faeces from one dog (0.23 %; 95 % confidence limit 0.006 %, 1.27 %) was positive for Salmonella. The species was S. enterica subspecies arizonae.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the prevalence of Salmonella from faeces from apparently healthy dogs from a variety of housing conditions is low; however, Salmonella shedding was still identified.
authors.affiliation: Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. preena.lowden@thermofisher.com.
authors.forename: Preena
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lowden
authors.affiliation: WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire, LE14 4RB, UK. corrin.wallis@effem.com.
authors.forename: Corrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wallis
authors.affiliation: WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire, LE14 4RB, UK. nancy.gee@effem.com.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gee
authors.affiliation: Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. a.c.hilton@aston.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hilton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology