TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE (1991) 85, 305 305 1 Short Report 1 Isolation of Yershia enterocolitice in Alexandria, Egypt* Richard L. Haberberger, Jrl, Isis A. M&hail’ and Adel I. Tanious* t US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairoi Egypt, FPO New York, NY 09527- 1600, USA; Animal Health Care Research Institute, El Dokki, Cairo, Egypt Yersinia enterocolitica has been implicated as an important aetiological agent of acute nastroenteritis in many countries ~ASAKAWA et al., 1373; RAB~~N & KOORNHOF, 1972; TOMA & LAFLEUR, 1974; WETZLER & &IUBBE~T, 1968). However? the potential importance of this pathogen may be nussed in many cases due to inadequate detection methods. As part of our investigations into the aetiology and epidemiology of diarrhoeal disease, a 21 d cold-enrichment in phosphate-buffered saline with subculture to cefsulodin-ireasan novobiocin KIN‘) aear IDifco. Detroit, Mi&igan, USA), as weli as direc’i culiure 0; CIN agar, has been used in our laboratory. With this approach, over 15 000 stool specimens cultured by our laboratory in Cairo, Egypt, failed to yield a single isolate of Yersinia despite excellent quality control of our media and identification system employing American Type Culture Collection-reference ?&ns~ Recentlv. 7 oresumntive isolates of Y. enterocolitica were referred io our laboratory from the Alexandria area of Egypt for further characterization. The isolates were originally identified by a conventional battery of tubed media consisting of Simmon’s citrate, Christensen’s urea. triole sugar iron, and motilitv- indole-ornithine a&us.* Five %f the ? isolates we;e identified as Y. enterocolitica bv the API-2OE Svstem (Analvtab Products, Plainvie&, New York, OSA). Three of these 5 igolates we& recovered from the stools of 200 diarrhoeic children in hosoital (all <12 years of age), collected throughout tile ye&. Two additional Y. enterocolitica isolates were recovered from 100 untreated surface water sites (1 from 60 freshwater lake samples and 1 from 40 samples from ‘This work wps supported by U.S. Naval Medical Research and Development Command, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Work Unit No. 3M162770A870.AR.322. The opinion and assertions contained herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department, Department of Defense, the US Government or the Egyptian Government. Recmestsfor reorints should be addressed fo: Research Publilations Bran’ch, NAMRU-3, FPO New York, NY 09527-1600, USA. the Mediterranean sea). Faecal specimens were orocessed accordine to the method of EISS (197%. ?-he membrane f&r technique of BARTLE? et ai. (1982) was used for the isolation of Y. enterocolitica from fresh water, and the modified enrichment broth technique of WEAGANT & KAYSNER (1983) was employed when salt-water samples were examined. Further characterization of these isolates using the biotyping scheme of NILEHN (1969) indicated that these organisms differed in their metabolic activity. The substrate utilization patterns of the faecal isolates were those of biotype 2 (salicin-/esculin-) in this classification scheme, while the freshwater and seawater isolates belonged to biotype 1 (salicin+/ esculin+). All isolates were P -1actamase producers and showed various degreeso resistance to @-lactam compounds, ampicillin and augmentin, in particular. The results presented here represent the first reported evidence that Y. enterocolitica may be a potential causeof enteritis in Egypt. Since the isolates detected in the stools were biochemically different from those found in the environment, th; source of the Datient infections could not be identified. This study re-emphasizes the importance of evaluating various isolation procedures when attempting to determine the role of a putative pathogen in a given geographical area for the first time. References Asakawa, Y:, Akahane, S. & Noguchi, M. (1973). Two commumty outbreaks of human infections with Yersinia enterocolitica. Journal of Hygiene, 71, 715-723. Bartley, T. D., Quan, T. J., Collins, M. T. & Morrison, S. M. (1982). Membrane filter technique for the isolation of Yersinia enterocolitica. Applied Environmental Microbiology, 43, 829-834. Eiss, J. (1975). Selective culturing of Yersinia enterocolitica at a low temperature. Scandinavian 3ourtaal of Infectious Diseases, 7, 249-25 1. Nilehn, B. (1969). Studies on Yersinia enterocolizica with special reference to bacterial diagnosis and occurrence in human enteric disease. Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica, et Immunologica Scandinatia, supplement, 206, l-48. Rabson, A. R. & Koornhof, H. J. (1972). Yersinia enterocolitica infections in South Africa. South African Medical 3ourna1, 46, 798-803. Toma, S. & Lafleur, L. (1974). Survey on the incidence of Yersinia enterocolitica infection in Canada. Applied Microbiology, 28, 469-473. Weagant, S. D. & Kaysner, C. A. (1983). Modified enrichment broth for isolation of Yersinia enterocolitica from nonfood sources. Applied Environmental Microbiology, 45, 468-471. Wetzler, T. F. & Hubbert. W. T. (19681. Yersinia enterkolitica in North &e&a. In:’ Norih America International Symposium on Pseudotuberculosis, Paris 1967. Symposium Series, Immunobiology Standard, vol. 9. Base1 & New York: Karger, pp. 343-356. Received 27 July 1990; accepted for publication 4 September 1990