First isolation of Yersinia intermedia from stool during an epidemiological investigation in Bangladesh

Following the first isolation of Yersinia intermedia (Y. intermedia) in the Microbiology Branch of ICDDR, B from two postmortem cases, one of whom suffered from pneumonia and septicaemia and the other from enteric fever, an epidemiological investigation was carried out in the communities from where these postmortem cases had come. The stools from both postmortem cases were negative for Yersinia. One hundred and twenty five contacts of the first postmortem case and 135 contacts of the second postmortem case along with 175 animals of Dhaka Zoo were examined. Y. intermedia was isolated from only a five-year-old healthy contact of the first postmortem case. This was the first isolation of Y. intermedia from stool of a healthy child in Bangladesh.