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Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

by Michael A. Buratovich, , Ph.D.

Category: Diseases and conditions

Definition

One of the three main Yersinia bacterium species, Y. pseudotuberculosis causes an animal-transmitted or food-borne gastroenteritis whose symptoms mimic appendicitis.

Microscopically, Y. pseudotuberculosis shows as an ovoid-shaped cell (coccobacillus) that stains gram-negative (red) during a Gram’s stain. If cultured from infected persons, it tends to grow slowly and form small, translucent, gray colonies. The cells have multiple flagella that allow them to move rapidly at low temperatures, but at higher temperatures that approximate that of the human body (95 degrees Fahrenheit, or 35 degrees Celsius), the species is nonmotile.

Causes

Upon introduction to the gastrointestinal tract, the organism invades the wall of the lower small intestine and usually colonizes the lymphatic systemassociated with the intestines (causing mesenteric lymphadenitis).

Risk Factors

Y. pseudotuberculosis normally lives in warm-blooded animals. Mammals such as dogs, cats, cattle, horses, rabbits, deer, and rodents, and birds (such as turkeys, geese, ducks, cockatoos, and canaries) can act as reservoirs of this organism. Contact with animals that carry Y. pseudotuberculosis can cause zoonotic infections (diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans). Likewise, the consumption of food prepared from animals that harbor the bacterium can cause food-borne infections. Drinking water from wells, streams, or other water sources, including those contaminated with bacterium-containing soil, also can lead to Y. pseudotuberculosis infections.

Symptoms

The symptoms of Y. pseudotuberculosis infection are a triad of abdominal pain in the lower right quadrant, a fever, and sometimes a skin rash, but diarrhea is rather uncommon. Symptoms usually appear five to ten days after infection and can last one to three weeks in healthy persons in the absence of treatment.

In persons with poorly functioning immune systems or with liver disorders that cause excessive blood-iron concentrations, the organism can colonize the blood, leading to sepsis. In such cases, mortality rates exceed 75 percent.

Screening and Diagnosis

Because of the location of the abdominal pain, Y. pseudotuberculosis gastroenteritis is commonly confused with appendicitis.

Treatment and Therapy

Most Y. pseudotuberculosis infections do not require antibiotic treatment, but drug therapy is essential for children or adults with preexisting conditions that makes sepsis likely.

Aminoglycoside antibiotics such as streptomycin sulfate, tobramycin, and gentamicin, can treat Y. pseudotuberculosis infections, but the toxicity of these drugs to the kidneys and ears limits their long-term usefulness. Bacterial cell-wall inhibitors such as the beta-lactam antibiotic pipericillin or the third-generation cephalosporin cefotaxime show consistent activity against Y. pseudotuberculosis. The bacterial protein-synthesis inhibitor chloramphenicol is effective against Y. pseudotuberculosis but should be used only as a last resort because it can damage bone marrow and cause aplastic anemia.

Combinations of antibiotics are also efficacious against Y. pseudotuberculosis infections. For example, a combination of cefotaxime and the quinolone antibiotic levofloxacin has effectively treated persons with bacteremia caused by Y. pseudotuberculosis.

Prevention and Outcomes

Prevention involves proper hygiene and food preparation and the avoidance of other sources of infection.

Further Reading

1 

Carniel, Elisabeth. “Evolution of Pathogenic Yersinia: Some Lights in the Dark”. In The Genus Yersinia, edited by Mikael Skurnick and José Antonio Bengoechea. New York: Kluwer Academic, 2003.

2 

Jay, James M., Martin J. Loessner, and David A. Golden. Modern Food Microbiology. 7th ed. New York: Springer, 2005.

3 

Krauss, Hartmut, et al. Zoonoses: Infectious Diseases Transmissible from Animals to Humans. 3d ed. Washington, D.C.: ASM Press, 2003.

4 

Robins-Browne, Roy M., and Elizabeth L. Hartland. “Yersinia Species.” In International Handbook of Foodborne Pathogens, edited by Marianne D. Miliotis and Jeffrey W. Bier. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2003.

5 

Ryan, Kenneth J., and C. George Ray, eds. Sherris Medical Microbiology: An Introduction to Infectious Diseases. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Web Sites of Interest

American College of Gastroenterology

http://www.acg.gi.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov

National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

http://www.cdc.gov/ncezid

See also: Appendicitis; Bacteria: Classification and types; Bacterial infections; Bubonic plague; Enterobacter; Food-borne illness and disease; Intestinal and stomach infections; Pathogens; Plague; Respiratory route of transmission; Rodents and infectious disease; Sepsis; Waterborne illness and disease; Yersinia; Yersiniosis; Zoonotic diseases.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Buratovich, Michael A. "Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis." Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition, edited by H. Bradford Hawley, Salem Press, 2020. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Infect2e_0627.
APA 7th
Buratovich, M. A. (2020). Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. In H. B. Hawley (Ed.), Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Buratovich, Michael A. "Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis." Edited by H. Bradford Hawley. Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2020. Accessed September 16, 2025. online.salempress.com.