Yersiniosis in Poland in 2013.

ABSTRACT

AIM: The aim of this paper was to assess the epidemiological situation of yersiniosis in Poland in 2013 against previous years. MATERIALAND METHODS: We reviewed surveillance data published in the annual bulletin "Infectious diseases and poisonings in Poland" from 2008 to 2013 (MP Czarkowski et al., NIH and GIS) and individual yersiniosis case reports from 2013 sent by the Sanitary-Epidemiological Stations. Additionally, we use data from the Department of Demographic Surveys in Central Statistical Office. RESULTS: A total of 219 yersiniosis cases were reported in Poland in 2013, including 199 cases of intestinal and 20 cases of extraintestinal yersiniosis. Among those were infections caused by Y. enterocolitica, and Y. pseudotuberculosis--217 and 2 cases, respectively. The incidence rate was 0.57 per 100,000 inhabitants. Hospitalization required 54,8% of cases. Deaths related to the disease were not reported. Intestinal yersiniosis was manifested mostly by following symptoms diarrhoea (91%), fever (74%), abdominal pain (49%) and vomiting (21%). The most affected group in intestinal infections were children younger than 4 years--126 cases (63% of all cases). There were less extraintestinal infections in comparison to 2012 (30 cases), manifested mainly by symptoms from the osteoarticular system, presented in 80% of patients. Similarly to 2012, the most cases of intestinal yersiniosis reported from Mazowieckie province (123 cases). Serotypes of isolated Y. enterocolitica strains were identified in 115 cases (53%), including serotypes O3 (88.7%), O8 (8.7%) and O9 (2.6%). One household outbreak caused by Y. enterocolitica O3 occurred. In 2013 identified 10 infections with serotype O8. CONCLUSIONS: Occurrence of a significantly higher number of yersiniosis cases during the third and fourth quarter of 2013 suggests the changes in seasonal distribution of infections in comparison to previous years. This may be related to a very low number of infections caused by serotype O8, reported in past years within the first half of the year. Maintaining a high percentage (47%) of a non-serotyped strains of Yersinia isolated from patients points to lack of serotyping in routine laboratory diagnostics. Reporting cases of extraintestinal yersiniosis from only few provinces may suggest that the real number of infections remains underreported.