CASE PRESENTATION: In September 2010, a 58-year-old diabetic Malaysian male presented with fever and a fluctuant mass on the right side of his neck. B. pseudomallei was isolated from an aspirate of this lesion and there was radiological evidence of disseminated infection in the liver and spleen. The recurrence of clinical symptoms over ensuing months prompted further aspiration and biopsy of a cervical abscess and underlying lymph nodes. Salmonella enterica serovar Stanley and then M. tuberculosis were identified from these specimens by culture and molecular methods. The patient responded to targeted medical management of each of these infections.
CONCLUSION: In endemic settings, a high index of suspicion and adequate tissue sampling are imperative in identifying these pathogenic organisms. Diabetes was identified as a predisposing factor in this case while our understanding of other potential risk factors is evolving.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective review, data collected during 2006-2015 from the medical charts of patients with evidence of infection, caused by any Salmonella serogroup or clinical form, were examined. We aimed to assess the clinical manifestations, antibiotic susceptibility, and antibiotic use in children with Salmonella gastroenteritis over the ten years' period.
RESULTS: A total of 419 patients had non-typhoidal Salmonella infection. Four-hundred (95.5%) patients were diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis, which was common in children aged <12 months (72.3%). The clinical features of patients with gastroenteritis included fever (74.5%), diarrhoea with bloody mucus (60.5%), watery diarrhoea (39.5%), and vomiting (19.8%). Serogroup B was most commonly detected in the stool specimens. The susceptibility of non-typhoidal Salmonella to ampicillin, norfloxacin, and co-trimoxazole was 36.3%, 98.0%, and 80.5%, respectively. Serogroup B was the most resistant strain, which was sensitive to ampicillin in only 21.6% of specimens, while it showed high susceptibility to norfloxacin and co-trimoxazole (98.1 and 84.0%, respectively). Third-generation cephalosporin and fluoroquinolone were most commonly prescribed.
CONCLUSIONS: Acute gastroenteritis is the most common form of Salmonella infection. Gastroenteritis caused by serogroup B is still the most common infection, which mostly occurs among infants under one year of age. The majority of stool specimens were still susceptible to antimicrobial agents, especially fluoroquinolone and cotrimoxazole; however, there was an overuse of antibiotics without proper indications.
METHODS: The antibacterial activity was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract was determined at a concentration of 0.625% by agar dilution assay. Later, the in vivo antibacterial activity was examined by the administration of 16mg of the extract daily for three consecutive days in a mouse model infected with S. typhimurium.
RESULTS: The bacterial loads of S. typhimurium in the ileum, liver, and spleen decreased after 24h of administration of the extract (p=0.00008, p=0.00084, and p=0.00003, respectively).
CONCLUSION: The ethanolic peel extract of C. hystrix shows antibacterial activity against S. typhimurium, indicating the potential of C. hystrix as an effective treatment for Salmonella spp. infection.