Salmonella bacteraemia among healthcare workers and their dependents

Objectives: To determine the incidence and resistance pattern of Salmonella infection in healthcare workers and their dependents. Methods: The retrospective analysis was conducted at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, and comprised records of employees and their dependents with bacteraemia from January 2007 to December 2011. Person-years were calculated using data from the human resources department. SPSS 19 was used for statistical analyses. Results: Of the total 2532 records available, 82(3.23%) patients were identified with Salmonella bacteraemia. Of them, 34(41.5%) patients were in age group 1-10, 15(18.3%) in 11-20, 26(31.7%) in 21-30, and 7(8.5%) were above 30 years. Besides, 48(58.5%) were males. Salmonella typhi was found in 44(53.7%) patients, Salmonella paratyphiA in 35(42.7%) and Salmonella species in 3(3.7%) patients. The yearly incidence of Salmonella infection in the study population ranged from 206 to 596 per 100000 person-years. Ciprofloxacin resistance was noted to be 56 (68.2%) followed by Ampicillin 29 (35.3%) and Co-trimoxazole 24 (29.2%). No strains were resistant to Cefiximeor Ceftriaxone. Conclusion: The yearly incidence of Salmonella bacteraemia ranged from 200 to 600 per 100000 person years. There was significant quinolone resistance among the isolates.