Country report: Typhoid fever and other salmonellosis in Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico, according to official epidemiological cases report, infections by Salmonella continue to pose an important threat to public health, although mortality due to diarrheal illness (including salmonellosis) has steadily diminished during the last 30 years. In 1994, these mortality rates were 113 and 72 per 100,000 inhabitants, in children less than 5 years old and in the elderly, respectively. Between 1990 and 1994, deaths due to intestinal infections diminished 59%, and mortality rates due to salmonellosis decreased from 0.64 to 0.3 per 100,000, at all ages. This was probably due to the intense campaigns promoting health measure, to reduce the incidence of cholera. Typhoid fever and other salmonellosis, including paratyphoid, are most prevalent in the 25-44 year-old age group, and hap-pen mainly during the warm and rainy months of March to August The present incidence rate for typhoid fever is 9.8 per 100,000; an incidence that has been steadily declining since 1988, when it was 17 per 100,000. In contrast, the present rate for paratyphoid and other salmonellosis of 163 per 100,000, represents an increase since 1988, when it was 102 per 100,000. Aside from S. typhi, the main serotypes isolated from 34 outbreaks, between 1982 and 1993, have been: S. typhimurium, S. enteritidis, S. Newport, and S. paratyphi A.