1993 Volume 67 Issue 9 Pages 791-794
Recently, the case reports of Pasteurella multocida infection has been increasing in Japan. In 1989, the Japanese Government, Veterinary Sanitation Division, Ministry of Health and Welfare officially communicated this infection as a zoonosis to related institutions. The current status of Pasteurella multocida infection is not well known in Japan. Because of this, a nation wide questionnaire survey on Pasteurella multocida was conducted to clarify the status.
A questionnaire was sent to 380 laboratories of the hospitals, and 258 (67.9%) replied. An infectious disease caused by Pasteurella multocida was found in Japan in 369 cases in 115 (44.6%) of 258 hospitals, or an average of 3.2 cases per hospital. The 369 cases were broken down into 123 males (from 1 month old to 87 years old), 118 females (from 7 months old to 88 years old), and 128 patients whose sex was unknown. The incidence of the infections tends to increase year by year. This incidence is higher than our expectation. It is considered that the contact with pets will in increase the infection with this agents. The organism was isolated in as many as nineteen different body specimens, including the appendix and urine, which in Japan has not been reported as organs harboring this organism. Some of the nineteen cases were severely infected. This organism was isolated most often from the sputum (48.5%). Pus was the next most common site (27.1%). This order was reversed in the U. K. and the U. S. Possible explanations for the reversal are given below. Japanese people can easily receive diagnosis and treatment at low fees under the Japanese national health insurance system, which unlike that in the U. S. or the U. K. covers all citizens. In Japan, when someone is bitten or scratched by an animal, antibiotics are generally administered to prevent suppuration. In Japan, the number of pets being kept nationwide has grown as a result of changing social values and a concomitant increase in ferroconcrete building, (which have steadily been replacing Japanesestyle wooden houses), together with an increase in the number of elderly citizens. Under these circumstances, Pasteurella multocida infectious disease should be openly recognised so that it can be addressed in the field of zoonosis.
This study was aided by Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (No.03857348).
