ABSTRACT
Increasing attention has been directed toward Yersinia enlerocolitica over the last 15 years as an etiologic agent in human ileitis, mesenteric lymphadenitis, and septicemia as well as possible sequelae of the enteric infection: arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, and erythema nodosum. The first attempts to infect laboratory animals with Y. enterocolitica were made at the New York State Department of Health Laboratories in 1933. Primarily for economic reasons, most laboratory studies done in vivo with Y. enterocolitica have employed mice. Fortunately, studies in the last decade have demonstrated that the major pathological features of Y. enterocolitica infections in humans are also reproduced in naturally infected mice. J. Schleifstein and M. B. Coleman report no ill effects in rabbits following i.p. injection of Y. enterocolitica isolated from humans. In 1973, T. Maruyama reported the establishment of an experimental Y. enterocolitica infection in Macaca irus monkeys. Naturally occurring Y. enterocolitica infections have been reported in two monkey colonies in the United States.
