Factors Influencing Equine Affiliate Opinion on Reporting of Equine Strangles in the United States.

Abstract

Although equine strangles is reportable in all states, synchronous reporting of this disease does not occur across the country. States have variable regulations on reporting (actionable, notifiable, and monitored) and no mandatory comprehensive databases exist for tracking prevalence. In this study, which is a companion to our recent publication on veterinarians' opinions on this topic, we solicited equine affiliates' (including horse owners, horse business owners/trainers, breeders, and barn managers) opinions on reporting of strangles and factors influencing their opinion. 518 equine affiliates/stakeholders living within the United States PROCEDURES: A structured survey was administered online. Eighty-one participants (17.8%) believed that strangles should continue to be nationally monitored and that individual states should have jurisdiction over laboratory confirmed positive cases; 124 (27.2%) believed strangles should become nationally monitored with mandatory notification of positive cases to a central forum; 77 participants (16.9%) thought strangles should become notifiable nationally; and 157 (34.4%) thought strangles should become notifiable and actionable. Participants who ranked strangles as "important" or "very important" compared to other infectious disease were more likely to want increased reporting (OR=3.62, p=0.054), and participants who were more familiar with the disease were more likely to rank it as important: for every 1-point increase in correct total score on the 5-question basic knowledge exam included, there was a 49% increase in odds of ranking strangles as important or very important (p=0.003). Equine stakeholders who perceived their horses to be at medium or high risk of acquiring the disease were 2.76 times more likely to rank strangles as important or very important (p=0.014). Of the sampled equine stakeholder community, the majority of respondents (78.5%) favored increased reporting. Information obtained in this study regarding current views of those involved in the equine industry on strangles reporting could inform future policy regarding the disease.