Food Poisoning Due to Salmonella Enterica Serotype Weltevreden in Mangalore

Abstract

An outbreak of food poisoning due to Salmonella enterica serotype Weltevreden ( S.weltevreden ) involving 34 students has been reported from a tertiary care hospital in Mangalore. The symptoms developed 8-10 hours, after consuming a non- vegetarian dish, probably fish, from an outside caterer. The identity of the organism was confirmed at Central Research Institute, Kasauli. This report emphasizes the geographical distribution of this organism in the Coastal Karnataka region. S.Weltevreden may be overlooked due to the biochemical similarity to S. Paratyphi B & S. Typhimurium.

A Rare Serotype Salmonella Weltevreden Causing Enteric Fever in an Hiv Positive Patient in Mangalore

“…So far, two documented reports on human salmonellosis due to S. weltevreden are available form Karnataka. The first one being a report from Hubli, regarding two cases of neonatal sepsis [11] and another one is a cluster of food poisoning cases involving 34 female students of nursing from Mangalore [3]. To best of our knowledge, the present report is the first case of enteric fever due to S. weltevreden in an HIV-infected Male adult.…”

“…In fact, enteric fever was not at all suspected and the patient had not received any antibiotics before admission. Laboratory investigations revealed a hemoglobin level of 9.8 g % and total leukocyte count of 9600/mm 3 . Differential leukocyte count showed neutrophils, 70%; lymphocytes, 25%; eosinophils, 3%; monocytes 2%.…”

“…S. weltevreden could be isolated only from repeat blood samples. Stool samples did not grow the organism in culture probably because the sensitivity of stool culture in the diagnosis of enteric fever is low (27%) in the adult population [3]. Widal test was negative because the antigenic formula of S. weltevreden is different from the common serotypes causing enteric fever.…”

“…HIV/AIDS patients are prone to a variety of opportunistic infections and have 20-100 fold increased risk for salmonellosis when compared to general population [13]. S. weltevreden serotype has been frequently isolated from sea food, meat poultry, and water and hence the potential sources of human infection [3]. Since S. weltevreden biochemically resembles S. paratyphi B and S. typhimurium, it is essential to do serotyping to establish the serotype identity and do phage typing to find out the phage types prevalent in a particular geographical area.…”

“…It has been reported that more than 20% of Salmonella isolates of human origin in India belong to this serotype [2]. It is frequently isolated from seafood, meat poultry products, and water [3]. We report a case of enteric fever caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Weltevreden in an HIV-infected 27-yearold male.…”