Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis causes food-borne outbreaks, often in children in day-care centers and schools, primarily in the northern hemisphere (e.g., Northern Europe, Russia, and Japan). Transmission of this zoonotic pathogen of wild and domestic mammals (particularly rodents) and birds occurs by ingestion of fecal contaminated drinking water or food, or through direct contact with infected animals. Clinical illness is characterized by fever and acute abdominal pain caused by mesenteric lymphadenitis that is often clinically indistinguishable from acute appendicitis. Postinfectious complications include erythema nodosum and reactive arthritis. The illness is often self-limited.