The first successful isolations and identification of Yersinia enterocolitica from human cases in Japan.

Abstract

ABSTRACTFrom March 1971 through February 1972 isolation attempts of Yersinia enterocolitica were made on 442 specimens, consisting of 292 feces from patients hospitalized with symptoms of suggestive dysentery, 22 from sporadic cases of diarrhea in children, 43 specimens of ileum resected from autopsy cases which exhibited pathological changes in their intestine, and 85 appendix vermiformis which had been excised. A simultaneous survey on the normal distribution of the bacterium in healthy persons was conducted on 30587 fecal samples from adults and 402 specimens from newborns. As a result of the survey, 12 strains of Y. enterocolitica were isolated; two strains from the ileum of two autopsy cases, five from excised appendix vermiformis, two from feces of hospitalized patients suspected of dysentery, and three from feces of sporadic cases of diarrhea in children. No strains of this bacterium were isolated from healthy adults and newborns. Major pathological findings of autopsy cases were conspicuous hemorrhagic necrosis and edema of the small intestine, limited to within 1 meter of the ileocecum. Biotype and serotype of 12 isolates were as follows; one isolate from an excised appendix vermiformis was biotype 2 and serotype 5B, while all of the remaining 11 were biotype 4 and serotype 3. These results suggested that strains of a specific biotype and serotype were likely to be playing a very important role in the development of this illness in man.