Yersinia enterocolitica: a brief review of the issues relating to the zoonotic pathogen, public health challenges, and the pork production chain.
Yersinia enterocolitica is a zoonotic agent that causes gastrointestinal disease in humans, as well as reactive arthritis and erythema nodosum. Enteropathogenic Yersinia are the etiological agents for yersiniosis, which can be acquired through the consumption of contaminated foods. As porcine animals are the main carriers of Y. enterocolitica, food safety measures to minimize human infection are of increasing interest to the scientific and medical community. In this review, we examine why it is imperative that information on the reservoirs, prevalence, virulence, and ability of this pathogen to survive in different environments is further investigated to provide rational measures to prevent or decrease associated disease risks.
UCD Centre for Food Safety, UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, UCD Veterinary Sciences Centre, University College Dublin (UCD), Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
Niall
N
Drummond
Brenda P
BP
Murphy
Tamara
T
Ringwood
Michael B
MB
Prentice
James F
JF
Buckley
Séamus
S
Fanning
D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D008462:Meat-Packing Industry / Q000379:methods*; D012306:Risk; D012703:Serotyping; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000382:microbiology*; D014774:Virulence; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*