Cargando…

Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008

BACKGROUND: Yersiniosis is the third most common zoonotic bacterial disease in Germany and the European Union. Sequelae of Yersinia enterocolitica infections, such as reactive arthritis, have been reported. Consumption of pork and its products, especially eaten raw or undercooked, is an important ri...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rosner, Bettina M, Stark, Klaus, Werber, Dirk
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2905328/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20546575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-337
_version_ 1782183946266607616
author Rosner, Bettina M
Stark, Klaus
Werber, Dirk
author_facet Rosner, Bettina M
Stark, Klaus
Werber, Dirk
author_sort Rosner, Bettina M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Yersiniosis is the third most common zoonotic bacterial disease in Germany and the European Union. Sequelae of Yersinia enterocolitica infections, such as reactive arthritis, have been reported. Consumption of pork and its products, especially eaten raw or undercooked, is an important risk factor of yersiniosis. Infection with Y. enterocolitica is notifiable through the national surveillance system for infectious diseases in Germany and several thousands of cases are being reported each year. We present recent data on the epidemiology of reported yersiniosis in Germany. METHODS: Surveillance data on yersiniosis, accessed through the national level database (SurvNet), were analyzed with regard to time trends, demographical and geographical distribution, serotypes, and hospitalization, for the time period 2001-2008. RESULTS: A total of 47,627 cases of yersiniosis were reported. The mean annual incidence of yersiniosis was 7.2/100,000 population. A downward trend in the number of reportable cases has occurred since 2002. Almost all Y. enterocolitica infections were reported as single cases, i.e., with no apparent links to other cases. The number of reported infections showed substantially less seasonal variation than in other zoonotic enteric diseases. The incidence was highest in children under five years (58/100,000 population), in particular in one-year-old children (108/100,000 population). Almost 97% of infections were acquired domestically. High incidences occurred in the eastern German federal states Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. Differences in incidences across federal states were driven primarily by incidence differences in children under five years. Hospitalization was reported for 17% of cases, the proportion being highest among teenagers. Almost 90% of Y. enterocolitica strains were diagnosed as serotype O:3, which is the serotype most frequently isolated from pigs. CONCLUSIONS: Yersiniosis is a zoonotic foodborne disease of relevance to public health in Germany because of its high incidence and risk for sequelae. The incidence of reported yersiniosis in Germany varies markedly from state to state, mainly due to incidence difference among young children. More research efforts should be directed towards the elucidation of risk factors of yersiniosis in this age group.
format Text
id pubmed-2905328
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2010
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-29053282010-07-17 Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008 Rosner, Bettina M Stark, Klaus Werber, Dirk BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Yersiniosis is the third most common zoonotic bacterial disease in Germany and the European Union. Sequelae of Yersinia enterocolitica infections, such as reactive arthritis, have been reported. Consumption of pork and its products, especially eaten raw or undercooked, is an important risk factor of yersiniosis. Infection with Y. enterocolitica is notifiable through the national surveillance system for infectious diseases in Germany and several thousands of cases are being reported each year. We present recent data on the epidemiology of reported yersiniosis in Germany. METHODS: Surveillance data on yersiniosis, accessed through the national level database (SurvNet), were analyzed with regard to time trends, demographical and geographical distribution, serotypes, and hospitalization, for the time period 2001-2008. RESULTS: A total of 47,627 cases of yersiniosis were reported. The mean annual incidence of yersiniosis was 7.2/100,000 population. A downward trend in the number of reportable cases has occurred since 2002. Almost all Y. enterocolitica infections were reported as single cases, i.e., with no apparent links to other cases. The number of reported infections showed substantially less seasonal variation than in other zoonotic enteric diseases. The incidence was highest in children under five years (58/100,000 population), in particular in one-year-old children (108/100,000 population). Almost 97% of infections were acquired domestically. High incidences occurred in the eastern German federal states Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. Differences in incidences across federal states were driven primarily by incidence differences in children under five years. Hospitalization was reported for 17% of cases, the proportion being highest among teenagers. Almost 90% of Y. enterocolitica strains were diagnosed as serotype O:3, which is the serotype most frequently isolated from pigs. CONCLUSIONS: Yersiniosis is a zoonotic foodborne disease of relevance to public health in Germany because of its high incidence and risk for sequelae. The incidence of reported yersiniosis in Germany varies markedly from state to state, mainly due to incidence difference among young children. More research efforts should be directed towards the elucidation of risk factors of yersiniosis in this age group. BioMed Central 2010-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC2905328/ /pubmed/20546575 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-337 Text en Copyright ©2010 Rosner et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Rosner, Bettina M
Stark, Klaus
Werber, Dirk
Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title_full Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title_fullStr Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title_full_unstemmed Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title_short Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008
title_sort epidemiology of reported yersinia enterocolitica infections in germany, 2001-2008
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2905328/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20546575
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-337
work_keys_str_mv AT rosnerbettinam epidemiologyofreportedyersiniaenterocoliticainfectionsingermany20012008
AT starkklaus epidemiologyofreportedyersiniaenterocoliticainfectionsingermany20012008
AT werberdirk epidemiologyofreportedyersiniaenterocoliticainfectionsingermany20012008