Purdue News
Purdue News
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June 14, 2000 Purdue Large Animal Hospital closes temporarilyWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's Large Animal Hospital is not accepting new patients for at least two weeks while clinic personnel rid the facility of Salmonella bacteria. Alan Rebar, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, said that recently a number of horses in the hospital were infected with the Salmonella bacteria. "At this time, only two animals with diarrhea remain in the hospital," Rebar said. "They have been isolated from the rest of the patient population and are being treated." The hospital began notifying referring veterinarians of the situation today (Wednesday, 6/14). "We will gradually shut down the facility while we continue to treat the animals we have in the hospital," Rebar said. "We will proceed with extra caution until treatments are complete and all the animals are sent home." Once all the animals are returned to their owners, the hospital will remain closed until a thorough disinfection of the facility is complete. "We will do bacterial cultures before and after the cleanup to ensure the bacteria is completely removed before re-opening the facility," Rebar said. Operations at the Small Animal Hospital and the Large Animal Ambulatory Clinics will not be affected. "This type of Salmonella bacteria tends not to be transmitted to small domestic animals," said Dr. Mimi Arighi, director of Purdue's Veterinary Teaching Hospital. "It can be transmitted to humans through physical contact, but we have standard procedures in place to prevent that from happening, and there is no evidence of infection in any of the staff or students working at the hospital." Staff working with the remaining two horses with diarrhea are wearing gloves, gowns and boots when in contact with the animals. Veterinarians are culturing the manure of all other large animal patients in the hospital on a regular basis to make sure the disease remains contained. Dr. Arighi speculated that the infectious agent originated with a patient. "Salmonella bacteria is common in horses, especially in the warm, humid summer months, and their immune systems are usually capable of suppressing its effects unless they are battling another illness or are otherwise stressed," Dr. Arighi said. "Virtually all the horses referred here are sick to begin with so they are naturally more susceptible to this bacteria in the hospital setting," Dr. Arighi said. "What makes this situation unique is that this particular strain appears to be highly infectious." Sources: Alan Rebar, (765) 494-7607, rebara@vet.purdue.edu Mimi Arighi, (765) 494-7235, marighi@vet.purdue.edu Writer: Sharon A. Bowker, (765) 494-9723, sbowker@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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