Yersiniosis in Czechoslovakia. Results of a long-term study involving microbiological laboratories of the hygienic service.
The paper reports on 17 years' experience of yersiniosis surveillance. Despite the fact that the microbiological identification of Y. enterocolitica 03 was successfully carried out by virtually all the microbiological laboratories of the Hygienic Service, reported cases of yersiniosis account for only one sixtieth part of alimentary infections. Enteric disease is the prevailing form of yersiniosis, extraintestinal ones being very rare. Most of the implicated patients were children, namely boys. An analysis of symptoms was performed based on the results of two epidemiological studies focussed around 215 and 37 cases of yersiniosis, indicating the involvement of the upper respiratory tract at the very beginning of the disease. The role of not sufficiently cooked pork as a vehicle of infection was proved only once (presswurst), however interhuman transmission of yersiniosis was confirmed in 4 cases with an incubation period of approximately 7 days. There appear to be many obscure areas in the epidemiology of yersiniosis, which may be illuminated using cultivation procedures to detect even small amounts of yersinia.
Aldová
E
E
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Láznicková
K
K
Svandová
E
E
Sobotková
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003604:Czechoslovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000302:isolation & purification