PRESENCE OF YERSINIA-ENTEROCOLITICA SEROTYPE 0/5,27 IN SLAUGHTER PIGS

The tonsils, tongue, mesenteric lymph nodes, cecal contents, and feces from 50 slaughter pigs were evaluated for the presence of pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica. The cecal contents and feces of two pigs were positive (4%) with the pathogenic serotype O:5,27, biotype 3, whereas all other pigs were negative for pathogenic serotypes of Y. enterocolitica. The pathogenic serotypes were isolated from the cecal contents and feces using the stomacher sampling method. The cold enrichment in phosphate buffered saline and plating in Cefsulodin-irgasan-novobiocin medium. No pathogenic serotypes were recovered using the swab sampling technique, enrichment in Irgasan-ticarcillin-chlorate, and plating in modified Salmonella-Shigella deoxycholate-calcium chloride medium. The isolation of only 4% positive pathogenic Y. enterocolitica in our sampling of pigs in one production unit provides some encouragement that detection and control procedures might be effectively implemented to reduce or eliminate serotype 0:5,27 from that herd.