Everything about Yersinia totally explained
Yersinia is a
genus of
bacteria in the family
Enterobacteriaceae.
Yersinia are
Gram-negative rod shaped
bacteria, a few micrometers long and fractions of a micrometer in diameter, and are
facultative anaerobes. Some members of
Yersinia are pathogenic in humans.
Rodents are the natural reservoirs of
Yersinia; less frequently other
mammals serve as the
host. Infection may occur either through blood (in the case of
Y. pestis) or in an
alimentary fashion, through occasionally via consumption of food products (especially vegetables, milk-derived products and meat) contaminated with infected
urine or
feces.
Speculations exist as to whether or not certain
Yersinia can also be spread via
protozoonotic mechanisms, since
Yersinia are known to be facultative intracellular
parasites; studies and discussions of the possibility of
amoeba-vectored (through the cyst form of the protozoan) Yersinia propagation and proliferation are now in progress.
Microbial physiology
An interesting feature peculiar to some of the
Yersinia bacteria is the ability not only to survive, but also to proliferate at temperatures as low as 1-4 degrees
Celsius (for example, on cut salads and other food products in a refrigerator).
Yersinia representatives also reveal relatively high heat resistance, some of them being able to survive 50-60 degrees
Celsius temperature for up to 20-30 minutes and (arguably, might be due to misreading of information like the first external link below) surviving standard
pasteurization process (15 seconds at 72 degrees Celsius) in milk.
Yersinia bacteria are relatively quickly inactivated by
oxidizing agents such as
hydrogen peroxide and
potassium permanganate solutions.
Pathogenesis
The disease caused by
Y. enterocolitica is called
Yersiniosis.
Another pathogen is
Y. pseudotuberculosis, which is the least common species of
Yersinia causing disease in humans. Yersinia is implicated as one of the pathogenic causes of Reactive Arthritis worldwide.
History
The genus is named for
A.E.J. Yersin, a
Swiss bacteriologist, who discovered the
Yersinia pestis bacterium - the causative agent of the
bubonic plague. The special genus
Yersinia has been recognized since 1971, mainly for
taxonomic reasons.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yersinia'.
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