Korean J Gastroenterol.  2011 Jan;57(1):14-18. 10.4166/kjg.2011.57.1.14.

The Prevalence of Yersinia Infection in Adult Patients with Acute Right Lower Quadrant Pain

• Jung JY
• Park YS
• Baek DH
• Choi JH
• Jo YJ
• Kim SH
• Son BK
• Chae JD
• Kim DH
• Jung YY

• KMID: 991463
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2011.57.1.14

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Clinical manifestations of intestinal yersiniosis include enterocolitis, mesenteric adenitis, and terminal ileitis presenting with fever, right lower quadrant pain, and leukocytosis. According to a previous Korean study in 1997, Yersinia was revealed in two among 15 adult patients with mesenteric adenitis (13%). However, recent reports on the prevalence of Yersinia infection in adult patients are few. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Yersinia infection in adult patients with acute right lower quadrant pain.
METHODS
Adult patients (>18 years) who visited Eulji medical center, due to acute right lower quadrant pain were enrolled prospectively from December 2007 to July 2009. Abdominal CT, stool culture, serologic test for Yersinia, and Widal test were performed.
RESULTS
Among 115 patients, 5 patients were excluded due to positive Widal test or salmonella culture. In 110 patients, abdominal CT showed right colitis in 20 (18.2%), terminal ileitis in 16 (14.5%), mesenteric adenitis in 13 (11.8%), acute appendicitis in 10 (9.1%), acute diverticulitis in 7 (6.4%), non specific mucosal edema in 36 (32.7%) and no specific lesion in 8 (7.3%). Two (1.8%) of the 110 patients had antibodies to Yersinia. One patient showed acute enteritis and the other patient was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and underwent appendectomy. No Yersinia species were grown on stool or tissue culture.
CONCLUSIONS
Nowadays, among adult Korean patients presenting with acute right lower quadrant pain, there have been few incidences of Yersinia infection.

Keyword

Yersinia infections; Intestinal diseases; Abdominal pain

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain/*microbiology
Acute Disease
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Antibodies/blood/immunology
Appendicitis/epidemiology
Colitis/epidemiology
Diverticulitis/epidemiology
Edema/epidemiology
Female
Humans
Ileitis/epidemiology
Lymphadenitis/epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Prospective Studies
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Yersinia/*isolation & purification
Yersinia Infections/*diagnosis/*epidemiology

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Findings of abdominal computed tomography in 110 patients.

Reference

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