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Rapid Detection of Yersinia enterocolitica by PCR

Author: Robert Brooks

Yersinia enterocolitica is a pathogenic, gram-negative bacteria that is commonly responsible for reported cases of yersiniosis and bacterial gastroenteritis from food poisoning. A close relative of Yersinia pestis, which is better known as the causative agent of the Black Plague, Y. enterocolitica is commonly isolated in soils, waters and clinical samples such as sputum, wounds and feces, but has become increasingly associated with outbreaks of food borne illness from contaminated food products. This organism has the ability to grow in low temperature environments, making it particularly difficult for the food industry which relies heavily on refrigeration to inhibit or limit bacterial growth. Rapid detection of Y. enterocolitica has become critical in order to prevent large outbreaks of this organism and to prevent costly recalls.

The disease, yersiniosis, which is caused by this organism, is typically detected after infection by examination of a patient’s stool. The disease itself occurs most often in children 5-15 years of age or in older adults that may have weakened immune systems. The disease causes tissue destruction and the organism itself is invasive. Symptoms of yersiniosis or gastroenteritis take about 4-7 days to manifest and can last from 1-3 weeks. Long-term effects have been observed in some cases of yersiniosis and can last for 1-6 months after infection. Common symptoms are nausea, diarrhea and abdominal pain associated with the initial disease, with long term symptoms that include joint pain and a skin rash called “erythema nodosum”.

Historically, isolation of this organism would require from 2-10 days for a presumptive identification, followed by 14-21 days or more for confirmation. Recent advances in manufactured media have decreased this confirmation time to between 3-10 days, but still require an initial enrichment on enteric media at various temperatures before the confirmation can begin. This process is both costly and time consuming. Microbac Laboratories has developed an assay to quickly test for and identify Yersinia enterocolitica by using PCR technology to determine if this organism is present in a client sample. Detection of this organism can be performed in less than 24 hours using the PCR method rather than days using the traditional microbiological assays. The advantage of using PCR over typical culture methods is, not only the time and cost savings for the client, but the specificity and sensitivity of the analysis which does not require long enrichments or a confirmation step.  Microbac Laboratories has the capability to distinguish between invasive pathogenic and non-invasive forms of this organism. 

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For more information, contact:
Dr. Kim Baughman, Director of Development, kbaughman@microbac.com

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