A case of bacteremia due to Salmonella enteritidis in healthy man

Abstract

Although bacteremia caused by non-typhoidal salmonella is frequently observed in immunocompromised hosts, it is rare to find this condition in healthy subjects. In this report, we present a case of bacteremia due to Salmonella enteritidis detected in a healthy man. A 59-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a fifty-day history of fever on May 18, 1985. On admission, he showed no symptoms except high body temperature (38.8 degrees C). In the laboratory data, C-reactive protein was 3+, white- cell count was 9600, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 12 mm/h. Culture in blood and stool yielded Salmonella enteritidis. However, no abnormal findings were found in UGIS, barium enema, OC + DIC, abdominal CT and echography. As soon as Ampicillin was administered, the fever was gone and the blood culture yielded nothing. After six months, the stool culture was negative for pathological intestinal bacterial flora and he was in good physical condition. Generally, bacteremia develops mainly in the immunocompromised hosts, such as patients with neoplastic disease, AIDS, leukemia or collagen disease. The literature provides so far twenty three adult cases of bacteremia due to non-typhoidal salmonella in Japan. Only two of them had no systemic disease as well as our case. Although it is unknown why bacteremia developed in this healthy man, we reported that bacteremia developed rarely in subjects with healthy condition.