title: Salmonella Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility from the National Animal Health Monitoring System Sheep 2011 Study.
abstract: Salmonella is a major cause of foodborne illness and can cause clinical disease in animals. Understanding the on-farm ecology of Salmonella will be helpful in decreasing the risk of foodborne transmission. An objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Salmonella among fecal samples collected on sheep operations in the United States. Another objective was to compare the use of composite fecal samples with fecal samples collected from individual sheep as a tool for screening sheep flocks for Salmonella. Sheep fecal samples (individual and composite) were collected on operations in 22 states. Salmonella isolates were characterized with regard to species, serotype, and antimicrobial susceptibility profile. Most operations (72.1%) had at least one positive sample and overall 26.9% of samples were positive. The percentage of positive samples varied by animal age class. Composite and individual samples gave similar results. The majority of the isolates (94%) were Salmonella enterica subspecies diarizonae serotype 61:-:1,5,7. Nearly all of the isolates (91.2%) tested for antimicrobial susceptibility were susceptible to all antimicrobials in the panel. The findings suggest that salmonellae typically associated with foodborne disease transmission are infrequently found on sheep operations in the United States.
authors.affiliation: 1 Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health , Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dargatz
authors.affiliation: 1 Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health , Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: 2 Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit , Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Athens, Georgia .
authors.forename: Paula J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fedorka-Cray
authors.affiliation: 3 National Veterinary Services Laboratories , Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ames, Iowa.
authors.forename: Matthew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Erdman
authors.affiliation: 1 Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health , Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado.
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kopral
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D011247:Pregnancy; D012475:Salmonella / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012478:Salmonella Food Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012703:Serotyping; D012756:Sheep / Q000382:microbiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology