Sources of sporadic Yersinia enterocolitica infection in children in Sweden, 2004: a case-control study

Young children account for a large proportion of reported Yersinia enterocolitica infections in Sweden with a high incidence compared with other gastrointestinal infections, such as salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis. A case-control study was conducted to investigate selected risk factors for domestic sporadic yersiniosis in children aged 0-6 years in Sweden. In total, 117 cases and 339 controls were included in the study. To minimize exclusion of observations due to missing data a multiple non-parametric imputation technique was used. The following risk factors were identified in the multivariate analysis: eating food prepared from raw pork products (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.8-5.1) or treated sausage (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.3), use of a baby's dummy (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2) and contact with domestic animals (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2-3.4). We believe that the importance of Y. enterocolitica infection in children has been neglected and that results from this study can be used to develop preventive recommendations.