Recovery of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from the faeces of healthy cattle

Attempts were made to recover and serologically identify Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from the faeces of groups of nine to twenty clinically healthy cattle eight to thirteen months old on each of 50 farms in the northern part of New Zealand. Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was recovered from 134 (26.3%) of 509 faeces samples from cattle on 42 (84%) farms and from nine of ten samples on two of these farms. Serotypes I, II, and III were identified, of which serotype III was by far the most common and accounted for 125 (93.2%) of the 134 isolates. Because of the common occurrence and widespread distribution of Y. pseudotuberculosis it is suggested that the clinical significance of isolation of this micro-organism from faeces samples or intestinal contents should be treated with caution.