Characteristics of salmonellosis described in U.S. infants

Salmonellosis causes substantial infant morbidity and mortality, according to a study published online May 10 in Pediatrics.

Julie L. Self, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed national surveillance data and active, sentinel surveillance data during 1996 to 2015 for culture-confirmed Salmonella infections among U.S. infants.

The researchers identified 190,627 culture-confirmed Salmonella infections among infants during 1968 to 2015, including gastroenteritis, bacteremia, and meningitis in 86.7, 3.5, and 0.2 percent of cases, respectively, and with other or unknown specimen sources in 9.7 percent. During the late 1970s to 1980s, the incidence increased, then decreased during the 1990s and early 2000s, followed by a gradual increase since the mid-2000s.

Gastroenteritis and bacteremia occurred at a median of 4 months of age and meningitis at 2 months. Typhimurium was the most frequently reported serotype for gastroenteritis (22 percent) and Heidelberg for bacteremia and meningitis (29 and 18 percent, respectively). In sentinel site surveillance during 1996 to 2015, the median annual incidence of gastroenteritis, bacteremia, and meningitis was 120, 6.2, and 0.25 per 100,000 infants, respectively.

The incidence of each syndrome was higher for boys than girls, but most differences were not statistically significant. The hospitalization and fatality rates for gastroenteritis, bacteremia, and meningitis were 26 and 0.1 percent, 70 and 1.6 percent, and 96 and 4 percent, respectively.

"To inform prevention efforts for infant salmonellosis, further research is needed into modifiable risk factors," the authors write.

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