TREATMENT OF CHRONIC BILIARY SALMONELLA CARRIERS

Sixty chronic biliary Salmonella carriers were studied. In a series of thirty-five carriers, cholecystectomy resulted in twenty-five cures and ten failures. Of fifteen carriers with cholelithiasis who were operated on under pre- and postoperative cover of ampicillin only one had a relapse. Ampicillin therapy without surgery failed in carriers with overt cholelithiasis, but succeeded in four of seven without roentgenologic evidence of gallstones. Five of seven hepatic carriers were successfully treated with ampicillin, although more than one course of treatment was necessary in some. The treatment of chronic biliary Salmonella carriers must be directed by a thorough investigation of the biliary tree. Treatment with ampicillin of carriers without evidence of gallbladder disease has a good chance of success, if large doses and prolonged therapy are used. In biliary carriers with stones the combined" surgical-antibiotic method of treatment has so far given much better results than other therapeutic measures. © 1969."