Abstract

A case control study was conducted to determine the risk factors of non-typhoidal Salmonella bacteraemia. Eighty adult patients with non-typhoidal Salmonella bacteraemia admitted to Siriraj Hospital from January to December 1993 served as the cases. The controls comprised 3 groups: group 1, 80 adult in-patients with Escherichia coli bacteraemia; group 2, 80 adult in-patients who did not have bacteraemia and had been admitted to the hospital during the same period as the cases; group 3, 80 in-patients who did not have Salmonella bacteraemia and matched the cases in terms of gender, age, hospital services and admission date. AIDS and corticosteroid use were the major risk factors for acquiring non-typhoidal Salmonella bacteraemia with an odds ratio of 7.27 to 12.31 (95% confidence interval of 3.39 to 29.40). Almost all patients with non-typhoidal Salmonella bacteraemia presented with a fever for a median duration of 7 days. AIDS patients usually had concomitant opportunistic infections. Salmonella group D was the most common serogroup. Most patients were treated with co-trimoxazole, quinolones, ceftriaxone and ampicillin. Localized suppurative complications were observed in 14% of the patients; the overall mortality rate was 36.3%, 12% of whom died prior to receiving appropriate antibiotics for Salmonella.