Stool - culture for Yersinia

What is a stool culture for Yersinia?

Yersinia is a group of bacteria, several of which cause zoonotic diseases in humans. The most common disease subtyperic is yersinia enterocolitica. Stool culture testing for Yersinia allows the detection of these bacteria, regardless of their more precise subtype, which is extremely useful for confirming the initial diagnosis made on the basis of clinical symptomss. Most often, the disease caused by Yersinia has an intestinal form, whichra resembles acute food poisoning. Infection most often occurs through contact with food contaminated with the feces of diseased animals or by eating their meat.

This test involves the multiplication of bacteria obtained from a fecal prb sample and their subsequent identification by evaluating the appearance of the bacterial colony in a microbiology laboratory. In addition, a drug-susceptibility determination is also performed, that is, a measurement of which antibiotic a given bacterial strain will be least resistant to, and therefore whichs use will be most effective in the case of infection in a given patient.

When to perform a stool culture for Yersinia?

The performance of this laboratory test is decided by the doctor after evaluating the clinical symptomsof the patient in question and taking a medical history. Often, infection by Yersinia presents some diagnostic difficulties, as the symptoms are sometimes similar to other diseasesb and can be easily confused with food poisoning. Important in the patient's history is possible contact with animals thatre likely to transmit the pathogen, as transmission of Yersinia bacteria between humans and humans is very rare.

Who should perform a stool culture for Yersinia?

The symptoms of yersiniosis (which is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia) can vary from patient to patient and their severity depends on a number of factors, such as the patient's age and general health. Symptoms usually appear about a week after infection and last up to three weeks. In children, this infection most often presents with acute diarrhea (blood may be present), abdominal painl& and fever.

In adults, Yersinia infection can often be mistaken for appendicitis, as there are times when abdominal pain is localized primarily to the area of this organ, combined with fever, which are the characteristic symptoms of appendicitis. In somesome severe cases, complications can occur, such as generalized infection of the whole body (sepsis) and arthritising. A stool culture test for Yersinia is ordered when a patient has diarrhea of not fully defined etiology.