Salmonella Infection Presenting as Hematochezia on the First Day of Life

Abstract

Salmonella infections are common in young infants. The incidence in the first month of life is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be approximately 75 per 100 000 liveborn infants.1 Symptomatic neonatal Salmonella infections generally develop during or after the first week of life. We recently cared for two otherwise healthy newborns who developed bloody stools within 24 hours of birth as the clinical manifestation of a Salmonella infection. These two cases and a review of the literature describing six similar patients are presented to highlight the infectious etiology for hematochezia on the first day of life.