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===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
===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===