Yersinia enterocolitica

Introduction

Epideiology:

• ingestion of contaminated food, especially undercooked pork

Pathology

• Yersinina is trophic for gastrointestinal lymphoid tissue
• infection can mimic appendicitis

Clinical manifestations

• fever
• diarrhea
• right lower quadrant pain
• pharyngitis

Laboratory

• Yersinia enterocolitica serology
  • Yersinia enterocolitica Ab in CSF
  • Yersinia enterocolitica Ab in serum
• Yersinia enterocolitica serotype
• Yersinia enterocolitica identified by culture
  • stool, blood, throat swab or infected tissue
  • sucrose fermenter
• Yersinia enterocolitica DNA in stool

Complications

• intestinal perforation
• reactive arthritis
• hemolytic anemia
• erythema nodosum

Differential diagnosis

• appendicitis

Management

• fluoroquinolone when treatment indicated
• if severe disease, 3rd generation cephalosporin + gentamicin recommended
• trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole previously drug of choice

More general terms

• Yersinia

Additional terms

• culture of stool for Yersinia