Yersiniosis

An infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Yersinia enterocolitica (and, less often, other forms of Yersinia). The infection can cause a variety of symptoms depending on the age of the person infected. Common symptoms in children (who most often contract the disease) are fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, which is often bloody. Symptoms typically develop 4 to 7 days after exposure and may last 1 to 3 weeks or longer. In older children and adults, right-sided abdominal pain and fever may be the predominant symptoms and may be confused with appendicitis. In a small proportion of cases, complications such as skin rash, joint pains, or spread of bacteria to the bloodstream can occur. Yersiniosis is most often acquired by eating contaminated food, especially raw or undercooked pork products. The preparation of raw pork intestines (chitterlings) may be particularly risky. Infants can be infected if their caretakers handle raw chitterlings and then do not adequately clean their hands before handling the infant or the infant’s toys, bottles, or pacifiers. Drinking contaminated unpasteurized milk or untreated water can also transmit the infection. Occasionally Y. enterocolitica infection occurs after contact with infected animals. On rare occasions, it can be transmitted as a result of the bacterium passing from the stools or soiled fingers of one person to the mouth of another person. This may happen when basic hygiene and handwashing habits are inadequate. Rarely, the organism is transmitted through contaminated blood during a transfusion. Yersiniosis is generally diagnosed by detecting the organism in the stool. The organism can also be recovered from other sites, including the throat, lymph nodes, joint fluid, urine, bile, and blood. Uncomplicated cases of diarrhea due to Y. enterocolitica usually resolve on their own without antibiotic treatment. However, in more severe or complicated infections, antibiotics such as aminoglycosides, doxycycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or fluoroquinolones may be useful. Most infections with Y. enterocolitica are uncomplicated and resolve completely. Occasionally, some persons develop joint pain, most commonly in the knees, ankles or wrists. These joint pains usually develop about 1 month after the initial episode of diarrhea and generally resolve after 1 to 6 months. A skin rash, called "erythema nodosum," may also appear on the legs and trunk; this is more common in women. In most cases, erythema nodosum resolves spontaneously within a month.

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A common human infectious disease caused by Yersinia enterocolitica and marked by diarrhea, enteritis, pseudoappendicitis, ileitis, erythema nodosum, and sometimes septicemia or acute arthritis.

- pseudotubercular y. SYN: pseudotuberculosis.

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yer·sin·i·o·sis yər-.sin-ē-'ō-səs n infection with or disease caused by a bacterium of the genus Yersinia (as Y. pseudotuberculosis) esp an infectious disease that is caused by a yersinia (Y. enterocolitica) transmitted chiefly in contaminated water and food or raw or undercooked pork products and that is marked esp. by fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhea

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yer·sin·i·o·sis (yər-sin″e-oґsis) 1. infection with bacteria of the genus Yersinia. 2. specifically, infection with Yersinia enterocolitica; symptoms include acute gastroenteritis and mesenteric lymphadenitis in children and arthritis, septicemia, and erythema nodosum in adults. 3. pseudotuberculosis caused by Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, seen in guinea pigs, white rats, rabbits, and birds.