Salmonella meningitis in children in Far North Queensland

• Published in: Journal of paediatrics and child health Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 535 - 538
• Main Authors: MESSER, RD, WARNOCK, TH, HEAZLEWOOD, RJ, HANNA, JN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.1997; Blackwell
• Subjects: Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the nervous system. Bacterial myositis; Biological and medical sciences; Female; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infant; Infants; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Meningitis; Meningitis, Bacterial - microbiology; Queensland; Salmonella; Salmonella - classification; Salmonella - isolation & purification; Salmonella Infections - microbiology; salmonella meningitis; Salmonella virchow; Australia; Oceania; Queensland; Human; Case study; Salmonella; Nervous system diseases; Central nervous system disease; Bacteria; Complication; Meningitis; Infant; Epidemiology; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 1034-4810; 1440-1754
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1997.tb01666.x

: Seven cases of Salmonella meningitis have occurred in infants in Far North Queensland since 1982. The mean age of onset was 2.8 months, and at least five of the cases were caused by Salmonella virchow. Five of the cases had significant complications during the acute illness: all required prolonged (median 34 days) inpatient management, and four developed permanent neurological sequelae. S. virchow is the serovar most frequently isolated from infants in Far North Queensland. The source of S. virchow infections in these infants remains uncertain, but transmission may occur through cross‐infection and person‐to‐person transmission in the home.