Yersinia pseudotuberculosis in Italy. Attempted recovery from 37,666 samples.

From 1981 to 1991, 37,666 human, animal, food and environmental samples were cultured for Yersinia pseudotuberculosis using direct plating methods and/or cold enhancement techniques. Despite an intensive surveillance and adequate culture methods, Y. pseudotuberculosis was isolated from stools of 0.05% (5/9,720) of patients with acute enteritis, and alimentary tracts of 0.1% (10/6,849) of apparently healthy animals. No Y. pseudotuberculosis strains were recovered from stools of 4,726 health controls nor from the appendices (656), mesenteric lymph nodes (84), and stools (421) of 656 patients operated for suspected appendicitis. Of the 10,842 food and 4,368 environmental samples, none yielded positive cultures for Y. pseudotuberculosis.