[The clinical spectrum of focal infection due to nontyphoid Salmonella: 32 years' experience].
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the manifestations of the syndromes which constitute focal infection by Salmonella no typhi (SNT). METHODS: Ninety-one episodes of SNT infections studied over a period of 32 years in the Fundación Jiménez Díaz (Madrid, Spain) were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 1,892 patients with SNT infection studied during this period, 91 (5%) presented some focal form (57 males and 34 females) with a mean age of 49 years (SD +/- 21.6 years). Sixty percent of the episodes were acquired within the community. The localization of the focal infections by SNT was as follows: urologic tract (24%), intraabdominal (20%), soft tissues (16%), respiratory tract (15%), osteoarticular (14%), cardiovascular (10%) and central nervous system (1%). On comparison with the remaining patients, those with urinary, osteoarticular and respiratory infections were found to be the most frequently immunosuppressed (47%) vs 18%, p < 0.01) with a greater frequency of unfavorable evolution (57% vs 15%; p < 0.001). Mortality ranged between 7% for the osteoarticular forms to 64% for the pleuropulmonary forms of infection. CONCLUSIONS: Focal infection by Salmonella no typhi may be localized in any organ usually occurring in immunosuppressed patients or those with predisposing local factors. The osteoarticular, pulmonary, and urologic infections have a particularly unfavorable course and their presence may suggest the existence of immunosuppression.