Clinical and bacteriological study in children with Yersinia enterocolitica infection

Abstract

Between September 1998 and December 2001, we retrospectively studied clinical manifestation and treatment in 22 children, aged from 7 months to 9 years, with Yersinia enterocolitica infection. The most common symptoms in patients less than 3 years old were fever (92%) and diarrhea (69%), and those in patients 3 or more years old were abdominal pain (89%) and diarrhea (78%). Seventeen patients were treated with antibiotics: oral fosfomycin in 9, intravenous cefotaxime in 5, oral cefditoren-pivoxile in 2, and oral norfloxacin in 1. Clinical symptoms improved within 3 days in 15 patients except for 2 treated with fosfomycin. It took 14 days to 20 days for clinical symptoms to improve in 3 patients less than 2 years old, who were not treated with antibiotics. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined with ampicillin, cefditoren, fosfomycin, clarithromycin, norfloxacin, piperacillin, gentamicin, ceftazidime, imipenem, and sulbactam/cefoperazone in 22 strains isolated from the stool of patients. Norfloxacin showed the highest antibacterial activity with MIC₉₀ of 0.1μg/mL in oral antibiotics, and imipenem showed the highest with MIC₉₀ of 0.5μg/mL or less in nonoral antibiotics.