S. equi was inoculated onto wood, the rubber sole of a shoe, cotton overalls, inside a nasogastric tube, dental rasp, wet plastic bucket and onto an outdoor fence post. Samples were taken from all surfaces at 24-hour intervals for the first 5 days, 48-hour intervals until day 23, followed by bi‐weekly intervals until no viable bacteria could be cultured from two consecutive samplings. The protocol was carried out during both summer and winter months.
Bacterial growth and vigour was higher in wet conditions and during the winter. In winter, the longest period over which successful cultures of S. equi were obtained was 30 days from the wet bucket. In contrast, the longest period over which successful cultures were obtained in summer was 7 days from the nasogastric tube.
Bottom Line: S. equi is likely to survive for longer periods in wet, humid and cold conditions and could survive for longer than previously thought.
Authors of this study are Durham, A. E.; Hall, Y.S.; Kulp, L.; Underwood, C. You can purchase the full article online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/evj.12840.
