Treatment of salmonella carriers with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole

One hundred and two patients with salmonellosis were observed, as either acute cases or asymptomatic carriers, over a span of 6 years. Twenty-eight patients were treated with antibiotics only or received no treatment; those in the treated group became negative for the infecting organisms after a mean time of 160 days, as compared with a mean of 52.4 days for those who were not treated. Seventy-four other patients were treated with frimthoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) as the sole medication or after prior antibiotic therapy. Sixty of these patients (81.1%) were free from Salmonella in the mean time of 19.2 days, whereas 14 failed to respond and the condition cleared spontaneously in a mean time of 134.9 days. The poor response to treatment with TMP-SMX by children 2 years of age and younger is noted. The beneficial effects of treatment with TMP-SMX, as compared with antibiotics or no treatment at all, are examined in the light of the need to protect the public from this potentially dangerous infection.