A Salmonella agona outbreak in a pediatric hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Six Salmonella Agona strains from an outbreak of 15 days duration which occurred in a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were analyzed. The outbreak involved six infants (mean age, 24 days; mean body weight, 1612 g), all of them with severe clinical signs and symptoms. Two of them had surgical implications, two were preterm and two had respiratory distress at birth. The Salmonella strains were resistant to nine antimicrobial agents (ampicillin, cefalotine, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, amikacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline). Analysis of the plasmid pattern of the wild strains and of the transconjugants confirmed that these were identical strains.