title: Human carriage of Yersinia spp.
abstract: Examination of faecal specimens for the presence of Yersinia spp. during a 1-year period yielded isolations from 3.5% of patients. Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and Shigella spp. were isolated from 2.5%, 2.8% and 0.34% of patients respectively. Most isolates belonged to Y. enterocolitica biotype 1 (53%) and Y. frederikseni (39%). The most frequently encountered serotypable strains were serotypes O 5.27 and O 6.30. Serotype O 3, the commonly recognised pathogenic strain, was not isolated in this survey. A strong association between Yersinia excretion and the age group 1-14 years was demonstrated. Although biotype-1 strains and Y. frederikseni have not previously been thought to be pathogenic, clinical significance could be attributed to the presence of Yersinia spp. in almost 90% of patients aged 15 years or more, and in over 50% of patients in the younger age groups.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012703:Serotyping; D015007:Yersinia / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*