title: Yersinia enterocolitica in diagnostic fecal samples from European dogs and cats: identification by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.
abstract: Yersinia enterocolitica is the main cause of yersiniosis in Europe, one of the five main bacterial gastrointestinal diseases of humans. Beside pigs, companion animals, especially dogs and cats, were repeatedly discussed in the past as a possible source of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica. To investigate the presence and types of Y. enterocolitica in companion animals, a total of 4,325 diagnostic fecal samples from dogs and 2,624 samples from cats were tested. The isolates obtained were differentiated by using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Isolated Y. enterocolitica strains were bioserotyped. The detection of the ail gene by PCR and confirmation by FT-IR were used as a pathogenicity marker. Y. enterocolitica strains were isolated from 198 (4.6%) of the dog and 8 (0.3%) of the cat fecal samples investigated. One hundred seventy-nine isolates from dogs were analyzed in detail. The virulence factor Ail was detected in 91.6% of isolates. Isolates of biotype 4 (54.7%) and, to a lesser extent, biotypes 2 (23.5%), 3 (11.2%), and 5 (2.2%) were detected. The remaining 8.4% of strains belonged to the ail-negative biotype 1A. All 7 isolates from cats that were investigated in detail were ail positive. These results indicate that companion animals could be a relevant reservoir for a broad range of presumptively human-pathogenic Y. enterocolitica types. MALDI-TOF MS and FT-IR proved to be valuable methods for the rapid identification of Y. enterocolitica, especially in regard to the large number of samples that were investigated in a short time frame.
authors.affiliation: Vet Med Labor GmbH, IDEXX Laboratories, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ivonne
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stamm
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hailer
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Depner
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D004285:Dogs; D005060:Europe; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D057805:Pets; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012703:Serotyping; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D014730:Veterinary Medicine / Q000379:methods; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: C069712:Ail protein, Yersinia enterocolitica; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors