Fatal septic thrombophlebitis due to Salmonella enteritidis

The case is reported of a patient with gastric adenocarcinoma with metastases who developed a septic focus in a saphenous vein. Salmonella enteritidis was cultured from blood, sputum and stool specimens, and from a thrombus removed from a varicosity of the saphenous vein. Extraintestinal infections caused by non-typhoid salmonella usually afflict debilitated and immunocompromised patients. Metastatic septic foci may appear anywhere in the organism, including the vascular system, but involvement of the venous system has not previously been reported.