Long duration of septicaemic salmonellosis: 35 cases with 12 implicated species of salmonella

35 cases of prolonged septicaemic salmonellosis have been described in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in recent years. The following points are emphasized: This salmonellosis does not represent a prolonged course of classical typhoid fever, but exhibits a clinical picture of a reticulo-endotheliosis closely related to that of kala-azar. Prolonged septicaemia is one of the most constant characteristics of the disease, and differs from those severe and lethal, as well as from the benign ambulatory, types observed in typhoid fever. Through serological typing of blood cultures, the following salmonellae were implicated in the infections: S. typhi, S. newport, S. panama, S. dublin, S. anatum, S. paratyphi A, S. paratyphi C, S. cholerae-suis, S. cholerae-suis var. kunzendorf, S. derby and S. montevideo. There is some evidence that biochemical identification of salmonellae and routine Widal agglutination tests were not suitable laboratory procedures for definite identification. The patients showed dramatic and convincing clinical response to chloromycetin, without relapses. Schistosoma mansoni infection was constant in these cases, but there is no convincing proof to evaluate the role it plays in the pathogenesis of septicaemic salmonellosis of protracted course.