Bacteremia due to non-typhi Salmonella: analysis of 64 cases and review

Within a 5-year period, 64 patients were hospitalized at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital of Keelung (Taiwan) with bacteremia due to non-typhi Salmonella. Fifteen were < 24 weeks of age, 17 were between 6 months and 5 years of age, and 32 were > 18 years of age. An analysis of these patients revealed several significant differences between pediatric and adult patients. For instance, 87.5% of the adults but none of the children were debilitated because of severe underlying disease. Mortality was high (40.6%) among adults, but no deaths were observed among the children. Diarrhea occurred significantly more frequently among children (68.7%) than among adults (15.6%), while the contrary was observed in regard to chills, which occurred in 31% of adults and none of the children. It is concluded that bacteremia due to non-typhi Salmonella presents with different clinical features in adults than it does in children; furthermore, in adults the disease can be considered life-threatening, but in children it is associated with a favorable prognosis.