A 21 year old college female shows up at the student health clinic with complaints abdominal cramping and diarrhea of recent onset. There is no history of recent travel. A few days ago, she attended a sorority picnic hosted with one of the fraternities on campus.
Labs: Stool sample contains gram negative oval rods and PMN leukocytes, does not ferment lactose on MacConkey's agar. It grows better at 25 degrees Celsius than at 37 degrees Celsius.
Discussion: The clinical picture of Yersinia enterocolitica is indistinguishable from that of Salmonella enteritidis or Shigella dysenteriae. Salmonella enteritidis induced diarrhea is more common. Confirmation is based on lab results. Yersinia enterolytica occurs in higher rates in Scandinavian countries, lower in the UK and the USA however, but the incidence is rising in the USA. Enterocolitis presents with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is transmitted by oral-fecal route. Humans are infected when they eat foods contaminated with the excreta of domestic animals such as cattle, dogs, and cats.
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