[Epidemiology and clinical evaluation of Salmonella enteritis]

There was a local epidemic of Salmonella enteritis in southern part of Taiwan during the summer of 1989. From July through September 1989, a total 162 cases of enteritis were analysed in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung. Among them, 46 cases were proved to be Salmonella enteritis by stool and/or blood culture. The identified flora group mainly group B (Salmonella typhimurium, 87%), group C (Salmonella choleraesuis, 6.5%) and group D (Salmonella enteritidis, 6.5%). The drug resistance of Salmonella enteritis of traditional antibiotics such as ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) in apparently increasing. We found that 43.5% of cases were uniformly resistant to all 3 antimicrobial agents as mentioned above. Of the 4 infants who developed bacteremia, 2 were less than 3 months old and their blood culture grew out group B. Salmonella, but fortunately no complication were found during hospitalization. The other 2 cases were proved to be caused by group C Salmonella which was reported to have higher incidence of ensuing bacteremia. This study revealed that persistent bacteremia could be present in the absence of fever and toxic signs. Newer, third generation cephalosporins such as cefotaxime of ceftriaxone should be initiated promptly.