ABSTRACT
Neonatal enteric fever is a rare but life-threatening illness. Patients may present with varying severity, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi causing more severe illness than Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A. Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A is considered to cause milder infection with fewer complications. We report a rare case of vertical transmission of Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A with severe complications and high mortality. Even though there are case reports of vertical transmission of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, to our knowledge, this is the first case report of vertical transmission of Salmonella enterica serotype ParatyphiA. The role of blood culture in accurate diagnosis and treatment is also discussed.
Subject(s)
Adult , Fatal Outcome , Female , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical , Paratyphoid Fever/microbiology , Pregnancy , Salmonella paratyphi A/isolation & purificationABSTRACT
A total of 85 patients with multidrug resistant S. typhimurium were isolated between May and September 1991 at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India. Fifty eight (72.5%) patients out of 80 stool culture positives suffered from enteritis and 23 (39.6%) of them settled with oral rehydration therapy alone. All strains were sensitive to 4 aminoquinolones (oflaxcin) but five were resistant to third generation cephalosporin (Cefotaxime; MIC between 50-75 micrograms/ml) whereas 88-96 per cent isolated were resistant to most of the other antibiotics. The convalescent carrier rate was prolonged with the use of antibiotics. The phage type of S. typhimurium isolated from the index and other cases was 178 and multidrug resistance strains had seven plasmids (1.2 to 16 kb). Barrier nursing and sodium hypochlorite disinfection helped in limiting the outbreak.