Difference between revisions of "Yersinia"

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* Cause [[Intestines - disease due to pathogens|intestinal disease]]
 
  
 
===Overview===
 
===Overview===
  
*Cause disease in animals and are important zoonoses
+
*Cause [[Intestines - disease due to pathogens|intestinal disease]] in animals and are important zoonoses
 
*10 species of which ''Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica'' are pathogenic to animals and humans; ''Y. pestis'' is the most pathogenic
 
*10 species of which ''Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica'' are pathogenic to animals and humans; ''Y. pestis'' is the most pathogenic
 
*Rodents provide a reservoir of ''Y. pestis'', which is the cause of human plague; fleas transmit the infection to other animals and humans
 
*Rodents provide a reservoir of ''Y. pestis'', which is the cause of human plague; fleas transmit the infection to other animals and humans
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===Clnical infections===
 
===Clnical infections===
 +
 +
*''Yersinia pestis''
 +
**Cause of bubonic plague in humans, transmitted via fleas from infected rats
 +
**Not a significant veterinary disease
 +
**Disease in rats and other rodents similar to the disease in humans
 +
**Bubonic form can lead to the pneumonic form, which is highly contagious and usually fatal
 +
**Humans and domestic and wild animals incidental hosts
 +
**Plague has rarely been reported in dogs, cats, camels, elephants, deer
 +
**Cats can acquire the disease from ingesting dead rodents, and show lymphadenopathy and abscesses
 +
**Fever, lethargy, swelling and abscessation of lymph nodes particularly in head and neck region
 +
**50% mortality if not treated
 +
**Possesses 3 plasmids, 2 of which are unique to this species; these encode an endotoxin, and coagulase and fibrinolytic activity
 +
*''Yersinia pseudotuberculosis''
 +
**Less virulent than ''Y. pestis'' but closely related
 +
**Mainly infect in animals
 +
**One plasmid, required for virulence
 +
**Sporadic cases of pseudotuberculosis in animals and man
 +
**Wild birds and rodents provide a reservoir of infection by harbouring the the pathogen in their intestinal tract
 +
**Sources include food and water contaminated by faeces
 +
**Multiplication in macrophages leads to granuloma formation
 +
**Granulomas occur in the gut wall and mesenteric lymph nodes
  
 
===Diagnosis===
 
===Diagnosis===

Revision as of 13:52, 9 February 2008

Overview

  • Cause intestinal disease in animals and are important zoonoses
  • 10 species of which Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica are pathogenic to animals and humans; Y. pestis is the most pathogenic
  • Rodents provide a reservoir of Y. pestis, which is the cause of human plague; fleas transmit the infection to other animals and humans
  • Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica reside in the intestine of domestic and wild animals and birds
  • Birds may cause mechanical transfer of the organisms

Characteristics

  • Enterobacteria, but grow more slowly and at lower temperatures than other enterobacteria
  • Gram negative, non-spore forming, facultative anaerobes - rods or colibacilli
  • Non-lactose fermentors
  • Facultative intracellular pathogens
  • Show bipolar staining in Giemsa-stained smears from animal tissue
  • Pathogenic strains identified by serotyping and biotyping

Pathogenesis

  • Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis enter the intestinal mucosa via M cells of the Peyer's patches
  • Engulfed by macrphages in the mucosa
  • All three invasive species are facultative intracellular organisms and grow inside macrophages
  • Plasmid and chromosomal-encoded virulence factors required for survival and multiplication in macrophages
  • Survive in phagolysosomes and do not interfere with degranulation or lysosomal fusion
  • Resistant to macrophage killing mechanisms
  • Antiphagocytic proteins secreted by the organisms interfere with host neutrophils
  • Y. pestis is more invasive than the other species and also possesses and antiphagocytic capsule and a plasminogen activator which aids systemic spread; endotoxin also contributes to its pathogenicity
  • Transport within macrophages to mesenteric lymph nodes
  • Replication in lymph nodes and development of necrotic lesions, with neutrophil invasion
  • The bacteria destroy the macrophages causing septicaemia

Clnical infections

  • Yersinia pestis
    • Cause of bubonic plague in humans, transmitted via fleas from infected rats
    • Not a significant veterinary disease
    • Disease in rats and other rodents similar to the disease in humans
    • Bubonic form can lead to the pneumonic form, which is highly contagious and usually fatal
    • Humans and domestic and wild animals incidental hosts
    • Plague has rarely been reported in dogs, cats, camels, elephants, deer
    • Cats can acquire the disease from ingesting dead rodents, and show lymphadenopathy and abscesses
    • Fever, lethargy, swelling and abscessation of lymph nodes particularly in head and neck region
    • 50% mortality if not treated
    • Possesses 3 plasmids, 2 of which are unique to this species; these encode an endotoxin, and coagulase and fibrinolytic activity
  • Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
    • Less virulent than Y. pestis but closely related
    • Mainly infect in animals
    • One plasmid, required for virulence
    • Sporadic cases of pseudotuberculosis in animals and man
    • Wild birds and rodents provide a reservoir of infection by harbouring the the pathogen in their intestinal tract
    • Sources include food and water contaminated by faeces
    • Multiplication in macrophages leads to granuloma formation
    • Granulomas occur in the gut wall and mesenteric lymph nodes

Diagnosis

Control

Treatment