Risk assessment of a pathogenic enterobacterium for horses and donkeys

Salmonella enterica ssp. enterica Serovar Abortusequi (S. Abortusequi) is a Gram-negative, facultative intracellular, pathogenic bacterium from the family Enterobacteriaceae . The serovar is host-specific for members of the family Equidae , such as horses and donkeys. The bacterium is known to Miscarriages in infected mares. If infected mares give birth to live foals, they have a high mortality rate and often suffer from various inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, enteritis, abscesses, purulent pneumonia, or sepsis. Infected horses and donkeys can also be asymptomatic carriers of S. Abortusequi and thus presumably contribute to the spread of the serovar within herds through animal-to-animal transmission. There are isolated reports of infections with S. Abortusequi and diseases in humans (including skin abscesses, gastroenteritis). The immune status of infected individuals is unknown. Resistance and also Multi-resistance Resistance of individual isolates of S. abortusequi to various antibiotics has been described. However, even resistant S. abortusequi strains are generally treatable.

In the Technical Rules for Biological Agents 466 “Classification of prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea) in risk groups” (TRBA 466) all Salmonella enterica ssp.enterica Serovars (except Salmonella typhi ) is assigned to risk group 2 with the designation “Z” (zoonotic pathogen).

The ZKBS classifies Salmonella enterica ssp. enterica Serovar Abortusequi according to § 5 para. 1 GenTSV in conjunction with the criteria in Annex 1 GenTSV as donor and recipient organism for genetic engineering work in the Risk group 2 The bacterium can cause, among other things, miscarriages in infected horses and donkeys. There is also evidence of pathogenic potential for humans.

The complete ZKBS statement can be found at File number 45241.0258 can be retrieved.