Yersinia enterocolitica isolated from throats of swine in eastern and western Canada

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Examination of the throat flora from swine in Ontario for Y. enterocolitica found the incidence of serotype O:3 to vary from 20% for tonsils to 50% for throat swabs and 55% for tongues. In contrast, there were no isolations of serotype O:3 from throat swabs taken from swine in the western provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. This incidence of serotype O:3 in swine correlates well with the human incidence of the same serotype which is 81% for all human isolations of Y. enterocolitica in the eastern provinces and 4% in the western provinces of Canada. The opposite relationship is true for serotype O:5,27, which was not isolated from Ontario swine but occurred with a frequency of 3% in British Columbia swine and 24% in Alberta swine. The relative incidence in humans for serotype O:5,27 is 5% of all isolations of Y. enterocolitica in Ontario, 8% in British Columbia, and 26% in Alberta. Serotype O:8, the most common human serotype in the western provinces (40% of all isolations), was not isolated from swine in this survey. The majority of Y. enterocolitica cultures of biotype 4 (serotype O:3) and biotype 2 (serotype O:5,27) were positive for autoagglutination, a test which has been associated with virulence, whereas all cultures of biotype 1 were negative. Thus, swine are evidently an important source of human infections with both serotype O:3 and O:5,27 of Y. enterocolitica. The source of human infections in western Canada with serotype O:8 remains unidentified.