Yersinia enterocolitica infection of a prosthetic knee joint.

Yersinia enterocolitica is a very common organism which is mainly associated with gastrointestinal symptoms. It has not previously been associated with early or late infection of a prosthetic joint replacement. We report a case of late infection, seven years after an uncomplicated knee replacement. This case demonstrates the ability of the organism to breach the joint capsule. There may well be an inherent under-diagnosis of Y. enterocolitica in infected prostheses due to the difficulty in the past of culturing the organism.