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

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, we solicited veterinarians’ opinions on reporting of strangles and factors influencing their opinion. Two hundred and fifty veterinarians practicing within the United States A structured survey was administered online. A total of 250 veterinarians participated: 84 participants (34%) believed that strangles should continue to be nationally monitored and that individual states should have jurisdiction over laboratory-confirmed positive cases; 58 (23.2%) believed strangles should become nationally monitored with mandatory notification of positive cases to a central forum; 24 participants (9.6%) thought strangles should become notifiable nationally; and 44 (17.6%) thought strangles should become notifiable and actionable. Veterinarians who were currently in the habit of reporting strangles were also more likely to want increased reporting (Or=1.87), though this association was not quite statistically significant  (P = 0.054), as did veterinarians who ranked strangles as “very important” or “important” relative to other infectious disease (OR 3.77, P = .037). Veterinarians practicing in the Southwest (P = .01) and West (P = .04) were significantly less likely than northeast practitioners to rank strangles of higher importance. Opinions on equine strangles and desire for increased reporting were varied in the sampled veterinary community. Information obtained in this study regarding veterinarians’ current views on strangles reporting could inform future policy regarding the disease.