An Inter-Familial Outbreak of<i>Yersinia enterocolitica</i>Enteritis

Abstract

Abstract An outbreak of Yersinia enterocolitica enteritis involved 16 of 21 persons in four related and neighboring families. The illness, which led to two appendectomies and two deaths, was characterized by fever (87 per cent), diarrhea (69 per cent), severe abdominal pain (62 per cent), vomiting (56 per cent), pharyngitis (31 per cent), headache (18 per cent) and leukocytosis. Four children had acute depression of serum albumin, with spontaneous recovery to normal levels after hospitalization. One child demonstrated an elevated total IgM antibody level. Serologic studies of 18 members of the families all demonstrated a positive response by the passive hemagglutination test. Eight persons had diagnostically important titers of 1:512 or greater, and all had symptomatic illness. The source of infection was suggested to have been a bitch and its litter of sick puppies. The sequential onset of disease indicated that, once it had been introduced into the households, person-to-person transmission had occurred....