Infectious disease, characteristic of humans and animals, mainly affecting the gastrointestinal tract and having a tendency to generalized damage to various systems and organs, is called yersiniosis. Symptoms of infection appear in the form of chills, headache, weakness, malaise, pain in the joints and muscles. There may be a decrease in appetite, sore throat, and insomnia.
The mechanisms for maintaining and transmitting the infection are very close to the pathogenesis of pseudotuberculosis. The similarity is due to their pathogens belonging to the same genus Yersinia. The causative agent of yersiniosis is the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia Enterocolitica, which belongs to the family of enterobacteria. At the initial stage of infection, the appearance of specific antibodies of the IgM, IgA and IgG class in the blood is characteristic. The role of animals as a source of infection is uneven. The main causative agent in nature is small rodents. Larger mammals that are acutely ill or secrete the pathogen can also be a source of infection.
The main method of transmission is alimentary. This usually happens through food contaminated with bacteria. Most often it is meat, dairy, vegetable products. It is often suggested that some bacteria of this kind of pathogen become infected with the protozoal pathway.
More often sporadic (random) precedents of the disease prevail . Diseases are susceptible to all age categories, but the greatest tendency to it is observed in children under 3 years old, people with immunodeficiencies, weakened immunity. A wave-like course with frequent exacerbations and relapses is one of the specific features characterizing yersiniosis. Symptoms of it are expressed by general intoxication, typical fever, damage to the skin, gastrointestinal tract, joints. The main forms of the disease are enterocolitis, enteritis, mesadenitis, sepsis and tonsillitis, as well as secondary foci of infection, are less common. The most common complications of the disease are erythema nodosum, peritonitis, and reactive arthritis.
By severity, yersiniosis is distinguished from mild, moderate and severe, septic form. In the course of the disease, it manifests itself in acute, chronic form, with frequent relapses.
Gastroenteritis is the most common disease with which yersiniosis begins. Symptoms of it are not much different from any acute intestinal infection. Its further distribution (generalization) throughout the body explains the extremely rich variety of clinical manifestations. They largely depend on the manifestation of the infection, among which stand out:
- gastrointestinal form with a characteristic lesion of the colon, stomach, appendix;
- mixed form, in which two or more organs are affected;
- generalized form associated with the development of sepsis, damage to the lungs, kidneys, liver, and meninges;
- secondary focal form that develops against the background of a previously occurring infectious inflammation. She is characterized by involvement in the pathological process of the intestines, joints, heart muscles, skin.
From the moment the pathogen enters the patient’s body until the first clinical manifestations develop, usually no more than a week passes. They can be expressed as several syndromes that characterize yersiniosis in different forms. Symptoms
general toxic syndrome with digestive damage manifests itself in the form of fever, diarrhea, nausea, headache, vomiting, aching joints and muscles, disorders of the nervous system. The mild form of the course of the disease usually lasts about 3 days, and the severe can last up to 2 weeks. A prolonged course leads to dehydration.
Yersiniosis in rare cases appears on the skin with rash elements in the form of spots, small dots, more often they appear on the feet and hands. Typically, this expression of a symptom of a disease is called a symptom of “socks and gloves.” Rashes can be accompanied by peeling, burning of the skin.
In severe forms of the disease, a manifestation of the general toxic syndrome, rash, sore throat, digestive disorders, enlarged liver, spleen, and lymph nodes are noted. Often, symptoms resemble acute appendicitis. When the joints are affected, their swelling, soreness, limited movement are noted.
The secondary-focal form of yersiniosis is isolated separately, since it is a consequence of its other forms. The main signs of this form are expressed in the form of enterocolitis, polyarthritis, monoarthritis, which affects one of the large joints, Reiter's syndrome, erythema nodosum, and myocarditis. Vegetative disturbances (increased sweating, skin marbling, pressure fluctuations) can be expressed quite sharply.
Laboratory tests are the main method that establishes yersiniosis. Diagnosis is based on the detection using a PCR method of a fragment of the genome of the main pathogen in feces or blood.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay helps determine the presence of antibodies to yersiniosis. For bacteriological research, the research material can be feces, urine, sputum, bile, cerebrospinal fluid, blood. Methods of instrumental diagnosis of the disease include endoscopic, x-ray examinations of the
ileum, which can detect follicular ileitis.
In the absence of concomitant diseases, treatment of mild and erased yersiniosis can take place at home, you should only follow all the recommendations of the infectious disease doctor and follow a diet. In moderate and severe form, the patient should undergo treatment only in a hospital.