Animal Origin of the Antibiotic Resistance of Human Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 4 serotype 0:3 (YE4, 0:3) is the most frequent cause of human yersiniosis in Europe, Japan and Canada. Recent research on infectious sources of YE4, 0:3 supports the suspicion expressed some time ago of the existence of a porcine reservoir. Over the last 9 years, the authors have isolated from different patients 174 Y. enterocolitica strains pertaining to enteropathogenic serotypes (172 serotype 0:3 biotype 4 and 2 serotype 0:9 biotype 2). The usual pattern of susceptibility in YE4, 0:3 is resistance to ampicillin, carbenicillin and cephalothin and sensitivity to tetracycline, gentamicin, sulfonamides, streptomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and chloramphenicol.