[Acute appendicitis in patients with Yersinia infection]

The article is the result of the joint work of a surgeon and a specialist in infectious diseases and is based on the results of treatment of 307 patients with the abdominal form of Yersinia infection Acute appendicitis was diagnosed in 73 (23.8%) of them. The abdominal form of Yersinia infection is encountered frequently among children. The authors analyse the clinical picture of acute appendicitis in patients with Yersinia infection, the time between the onset of the disease and the patient's call for the doctor, the dependence of the histologic findings in the examined removed vermiform processes on the duration of the disease, and the results of surgery. The difficulties in making the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in patients with yersinosis and concomitant mesadenitis and terminal ileitis are discussed. It is concluded that laparoscopy is advisable in doubtful clinical signs of acute appendicitis in patients with Yersinia infection due to the high frequency of destructive forms (77.9%). The average duration of in-patient treatment of persons with acute appendicitis and Yersinia infection was 4.8 days. The positive results of treatment are attributed to timely prescription of specific antibacterial therapy--the prescription of chloramphenicol from the moment that the diagnosis of yersinosis was established.