Yersinia Enterocolitica

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Yersinia enterocolitica is a species of gram-negative coccobacillus-shaped bacterium, belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Primarily a zoonotic disease (cattle, deer, pigs, and birds), animals that recover frequently become asymptomatic carriers of the disease. Acute Y. enterocolitica infections produce severe diarrhea in humans, along with Peyer's patch necrosis, chronic lymphadenopathy, and hepatic or splenic abscesses. Additional symptoms may include entero-colitis, fever, mesenteric adenitis, erythema nodosum and acute terminal ileitis, which may be confused with appendicitis or Crohn's disease. Because Yersinia is a siderophilic (iron-loving) bacteria, people with hereditary hemochromatosis (a disease resulting in high body iron levels) are more susceptible to infection with Yersinia (and other siderophilic bacteria). In fact, the most common contaminant of stored blood is Y. enterocolitica.