SYMPTOMS, SEPTICEMIA AND DEATH IN SALMONELLOSIS

Cherubin, C. E. (Harlem Hospital Center, 136th St. and Lenox Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10037), T. Fodor, L I. Denmark, C. S. Master, H. T. Fuerst and J. W. Winter. Symptoms, septicemia and death in salmonellosis. Amer J. Epid., 1969, 90: 285-291.- In New York City, a mechanism exists for the reporting of all salmonella isolates. In 1965 and 1966, of the 2, 192 cases of salmonellosis, there were 101 confirmed cases of salmonella septicemia (5%). In 50% of the septicemias, S. typhimurium was isolated, while it was found in 40% of the total cases. (S. choleraesuis produced 1 case). Forty six % of the septicemias were associated with underlying disease. Of the 13 cases with lymphoma or leukemia, 11 were due to S. typhimurium, whereas of the 29 cases with carcinoma, sickle celll anemia, etc, 16 were due to this organism and 13 to other serotypes (p <.05). Further, while the majority of all patients with salmonellosis and lymphoma or leukemia had septicemia, only a minority of these cases with carcinoma, etc. had positive blood cultures. S. typhimurium would seem unique in its close association with lymphoma and leukemia; this was not the case with other underlying diseases. A single hypothesis for predisposition to salmonella septicemia (i.e. anergy or hemolysis) does not seem adequate. © 1969, by THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.