Salmonella Typhimurium Veterinary Clinic Outbreak

摘要

To the Editor: The EmergingInfectious Diseases 2004 issue onzoonotic diseases (volume 10, number12) included a careful and comprehen-sive description of a Salmonella enter-ica serovar Typhimurium outbreakassociated with a veterinary clinic inNew York (1). In the outbreak, 2 catsand 1 dog had dental procedures per-formed, and the 3 owners, 2 clinictechnicians, and a friend of an affectedowner all contracted with salmonel-losis caused by the same strain. Anisolate was obtained from an animal,but a source for the Salmonella out-break was not identified.I get 1 or 2 phone calls each yearfrom veterinarians in Canada regard-ing recurrent problems of salmonel-losis in their clinics, though rarelywith human infections. The advice Igive the veterinarians, which stops theproblem, is to stop using clindamycinas a routine prophylactic agent whencarrying out dental procedures. Themarked disruption of the colonicanaerobic microflora by oral clin-damycin will reduce the number ofSalmonella organisms required toestablish infection to very few. In vet-erinary journals, advertising for clin-damycin focuses on its use in prophy-laxis of infections after dental pro-cures such as cleaning, scaling, andextractions. Veterinary practitionerstypically respond to my advice withinitial disbelief because it challengesuse of a procedure that is seen as stan-dard in veterinary practice.