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.

Importance of prudent antibiotic use on dairy farms in South Carolina: a pilot project on farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices.

Inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals contributes to decreased antimicrobial susceptibility in bacteria of medical importance. Resistant bacteria being transferred from animals to humans are causing public health concern. In-person interviews were conducted with 20 dairy farmers in rural counties of South Carolina to determine farmers' knowledge and attitudes about prudent antibiotic use among livestock.

Genetic relatedness of a rarely isolated Salmonella: Salmonella enterica serotype Niakhar from NARMS animal isolates.

Background: In the United States, Salmonella enterica serotype Niakhar is infrequently isolated. Between 1997 and 2000, the animal arm of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System-Enteric Bacteria (NARMS) assayed a total of 22,383 Salmonella isolates from various animal sources (swine, cattle, chickens, turkeys, cats, horses, exotics and dogs) for antimicrobial susceptibility. Isolates originated from diagnostic and non-diagnostic submissions.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella from human clinical cases, asymptomatic children, and raw retail meats in Yucatan, Mexico.

Background: We report the results of a 3-year Salmonella surveillance study of persons with diarrhea; asymptomatic children; and retail pork, poultry, and beef in Yucatan, Mexico.

Methods: Isolates were characterized according to serotype, antimicrobial susceptibility, and genetic relatedness with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

Results: Salmonella Typhimurium was the most common serotype found in ill humans (21.

Salmonella in dairy operations in the United States: prevalence and antimicrobial drug susceptibility.

Salmonella serotypes are important foodborne pathogens of humans that can be acquired through consumption of contaminated meat and dairy products. Salmonella infection also can be a significant animal health issue. As part of a national study of U.

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.

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella spp. isolates from US cattle in feedlots in 1999 and 2000.

Aims: Faecal samples from cattle in US feedlots were evaluated for the presence of Salmonella. When Salmonella isolates were recovered the antimicrobial resistance patterns were determined.

Methods And Results: Faecal samples were collected from pen floors in 73 feedlots in 12 states during the period from October 1999 to September 2000.

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).

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.

PBBs, PCBs, and dioxins in food animals, their public health implications.

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dioxins are shown to have toxic potential in food animals and humans through laboratory research and investigation of accidental exposures. This article discusses the ball clay incident, as well as other examples of known accidental exposures to PBBs and PCBs. Background information regarding the mechanism of toxicity and effects in animals and humans is also included.

Silicone gel breast implant adverse event reports to the Food and Drug Administration, 1984-1995.

Objectives: To characterize the adverse event reports on silicone gel breast implants (SGBIs), including death reports, submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1984 through 1995 and to analyze changes in the type and complexity of reports following extensive media coverage of breast implants.

Methods: The authors analyzed mandatory and voluntary reports from the adverse events reporting system for medical devices at the FDA.

Results: In 1988, adverse event reports related to SGBIs accounted for 2.

The epidemiology of raw milk-associated foodborne disease outbreaks reported in the United States, 1973 through 1992.

Objectives: This study describes the epidemiology of raw milk-associated outbreaks reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1973 through 1992.

Methods: Surveillance data for each reported raw milk-associated outbreak were reviewed. A national survey was conducted to determine the legal status of intrastate raw milk sales for the period 1973 through 1995.

Effects of dietary vitamin E on the immune system in broilers: altered proportions of CD4 T cells in the thymus and spleen.

To gain insight into the immunomodulatory effects of vitamin E (VE), immune cell population analyses were conducted using thymus and spleen from male broilers fed diets with various levels of VE supplementation (0, 17, 46, and 87 mg dl-alpha-tocopherol acetate/kg of feed). At 2 and 7 wk of age, the percentages of B cells, macrophages, and T cell subsets, delineated by the expression of CD4, CD8, and T cell receptor (TCR) isotype, in thymus and spleen were determined by flow cytometry. The percentages of thymic and splenic B cells and macrophages from 2- and 7-wk-old chickens, as well as the percentage of thymic T cells in 2-wk-old chickens, were unaffected by VE treatment.

Food borne disease summary by food commodity.

Microbial pathogens may be transmitted to humans via food animals and food animal products. A quick reference table is presented to provide easy access to food safety information related to the major food animal product areas. Included in the table are the pathogens, mode of transmission, public health impact, and control and prevention strategies for poultry, beef, dairy products, and pork.

Profile of raw milk consumers in California.

Objectives: The authors sought to determine the prevalence of raw milk consumption in California--the largest producer of certified raw milk in the United States--and to describe the demographic and behavioral characteristics of raw milk consumers in that state.

Methods: The authors analyzed responses to questions on the 1994 California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey that asked respondents about whether they drank raw milk, the amount consumed, the reason for drinking raw milk, and where raw milk was most often obtained.

Results: Among 3999 survey respondents, 3.

Raw shellfish consumption and warning labels: results from the 1993 Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey.

We used the 1993 Texas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey to assess the prevalence of raw shellfish consumption and to find the demographic and behavioral characteristics of raw shellfish consumers. We studied the general impact of warning labels reported by survey respondents. Data were analyzed using univariate and multiple logistic regression methods.

Breastfeeding among black mothers: evidence supporting the need for prenatal intervention.

Purpose: To identify factors that might be targeted for intervention to increase breastfeeding among black mothers.

Design: Secondary analysis of the 1988 National Maternal Infant Health Survey.

Participants: Black mothers (N = 5,142) from a nationally representative sample of mothers who had births in 1988.

Raw shellfish consumption in California: the 1992 California Behavioral Risk Factor Survey.

We used the 1992 California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to study the prevalence of raw shellfish consumption in California and the demographic and behavioral characteristics of raw shellfish consumers. We used the logistic regression analysis of the weighted survey data with PC SAS and SUDAAN to adjust for the effects of age and gender. Twenty-three percent of the respondents in the survey reported that they ate raw shellfish; one third of these reported eating raw shellfish once a month.

Associations between diet and health behavior: results from the 1992 Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Survey.

The 1992 Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was used to assess self-reported health behaviors of consumers of finfish and raw shellfish. We hypothesized that consumers of finfish, foods considered to be healthy, were more likely than nonconsumers of finfish to partake in health-promoting behaviors. Similarly, we postulated that consumers of raw molluscan shellfish, foods linked to an elevated risk of acquiring various illnesses, were more likely than nonconsumers of raw-shellfish to partake in risk-taking behaviors.