Prospective systematic study of Yersinia spp. in dogs.

A total of 93 Yersinia spp. were isolated from 68 of 252 dogs in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The Yersinia spp. were 70 Yersinia enterocolitica isolates from 50 dogs, 2 Yersinia frederiksenii isolates from 2 dogs, 5 Yersinia intermedia isolates from 5 dogs, and 16 Yersinia pseudotuberculosis isolates from 16 dogs. Fifteen of 70 Y. enterocolitica isolates belonged to biotype 4 serotype O3 phagotype 8 (6 isolates), biotype 4 (maltose negative) serotype O3 phagotype 8 (4 isolates), biotype 3 (Voges-Proskauer and sorbose negative) serotype O3 phagotype 9 (2 isolates), and biotype 2 serotype O5.27 (3 isolates). The other 55 Y. enterocolitica isolates belonged to biotype 1 and were classified into serotypes O4, O5, O7 .8, O9, O10 , O12 , O13 .7, O14 , O15 , and untypable. Sixteen Y. pseudotuberculosis isolates belonged to serotypes IB (two), IIB (two), IVA (two), IVB (three), VA (five), and untypable (two). These isolates were mostly detected in cold months. Y. enterocolitica serotype O3 and Y. pseudotuberculosis were isolated more frequently from puppies. Y. enterocolitica serotype O3 was recovered at less than 10(7.0) cells per g of the jejunal-to-rectal contents and at less than 10(2) cells per g of mesenteric lymph nodes. Y. pseudotuberculosis was recovered at less than 10(4.3) cells per g of the cecal-to-rectal contents and at less than 10(2.9) cells per g of mesenteric lymph nodes. Almost all strains of Y. enterocolitica biotype 1, Y. intermedia, and Y. frederiksenii were recovered at less than 10(2) cells per g of gastric-to-rectal contents.