Affiliation:
1. Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services, Sessvollmoen 2058, Norway
2. Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø 9019, Norway
3. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo 0213, Norway
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Introduction
In the spring of 2014, there was an outbreak of Yersinia enterocolitica (YE) gastroenteritis in four Norwegian military camps—the largest outbreak ever reported in Norway. YE is usually transmitted via food, and the gastrointestinal disease caused by the bacterium is considered a public health problem in several countries. Common symptoms of YE gastroenteritis are abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, nausea, and vomiting. Post-infectious complications can occur after YE gastroenteritis, the most common of which are erythema nodosum and reactive arthritis. Based on self-reported data, we describe the duration of illness, the duration of any absence from service, and the incidence of symptoms of post-infectious complications in two groups of servicepeople: one diagnosed with YE gastroenteritis and the other with an unspecified acute infectious gastroenteritis.
Materials and Methods
The Norwegian Armed Forces Health Register (NAFHR) is a central health register that contains data from conscripts and from military and civilian personnel in the Norwegian Armed Forces. In this study, we identified all individuals with a diagnosis of YE gastroenteritis in the NAFHR in the period from January 1 to June 30, 2014 (n = 128) as well as all those with a diagnosis of an unspecified acute infectious gastroenteritis in the same period (n = 323) to participate as controls. In October 2018, a link to an internet-based questionnaire was distributed by e-mail to all identified individuals. The questionnaires collected data on the duration of illness, the duration of absence from service, and the incidence of symptoms of post-infectious complications.
Results
Of all those who received the questionnaire, 72 (59%) were included in the YE group and 117 people (36%) were included in the control group. Half of those in the YE group were ill for more than 13 days, while almost all (90%) of those in the control group recovered after 1 week. There were no differences between the groups in the incidence of symptoms of post-infectious complications during the 6 weeks after recovery. There was a significantly larger proportion of officers than conscripts in the YE group who reported symptoms of post-infectious complications. None of the respondents reported symptoms of post-infectious complications in the 6 months after the termination of military service.
Conclusion
One strength of this study is that we were able to investigate a large outbreak of YE gastroenteritis in a group of individuals with good underlying health. Weaknesses are the low response rate, especially in the control group, and the fact that we sent out the questionnaire >4 years after the acute gastroenteritis occurred. YE gastroenteritis among personnel in the Norwegian Armed Forces was associated with a significantly longer duration of illness and a longer duration of absence from service than that resulting from an unspecified acute infectious gastroenteritis. However, YE gastroenteritis was not associated with more symptoms of post-infectious complications.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,General Medicine
Reference23 articles.
1. National outbreak of Yersinia enterocolitica infections in military and civilian populations associated with consumption of mixed salad, Norway, 2014;MacDonald;Euro Surveill,2016
2. The infection control guide,2017
3. Epidemiology of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Germany, 2001-2008;Rosner;BMC Public Health,2010
4. The European Union Summary Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic Agents and Food-Borne Outbreaks in 2017;European Food Safety Authority, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control,2018
5. The descriptive epidemiology of yersiniosis: a multistate study, 2005-2011;Chakraborty;Public Health Rep,2015
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. Enteropathogenic Yersinia spp.;Zoonoses: Infections Affecting Humans and Animals;2023
2. Quo vadis reactive arthritis?;Current Opinion in Rheumatology;2022-06-09
3. Enteropathogenic Yersinia spp.;Zoonoses: Infections Affecting Humans and Animals;2022