[Yersinia enterocolitica serovar 2a, wb, 3:b,c biovar 5 in hares and sheep]

During the last fourty years the "hare type" of Yersinia enterocolitica was detected in the brown hare and other mammals in several European countries. In northern Germany (Province of Schleswig-Holstein) the pathogen was not found in the post mortem materials of the cattle, swine and horses during the years 1990-1996. In approximately 1,000 sheep studied this yersinia was cultured from the internal organs of one diarrhoeic lamb. The examination of some 200 perished hares reveals one animal with granulomatous splenomegaly and culture of this pathogen. Yersinia enterocolitica is one of the pathogens causing pseudotuberculosis-like lesions in the hare.