Salmonella typhimurium Enteritis and Bacteremia in the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

T H E ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY syndrome is char-acterized by the presence of profound immunosuppres-sion and the development of multiple opportunistic infec-tions and unusual neoplasms, particularly Kaposi's sarcoma. Infections reported in patients with the syn-drome have been caused by viruses, protozoans, fungi, and mycobacteria (1) , but severe and recurrent infec-tions caused by bacteria have been reported infrequently. In this report we describe three patients with the ac-quired immunodeficiency syndrome who developed se-vere, recurrent enteritis or bacteremia due to Salmonella typhim urium. The cases of three homosexual men who fulfilled the Centers for Disease Control criteria for the acquired im-munodeficiency syndrome (2) were studied. Two pa-