SALMONELLA PANAMA IN MARTINIQUE - EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICAL ASPECTS IN HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN

Since 1986, an augmentation of cases of non typhoid salmonellosis has been noticed in Martinique. In contrast to what is reported in contine ntal France, Salmonella panama was the most frequently encountered ser otype pe (35 % of all strains). We have compared epidemiological, clin ical and biological features of S. panama infections (group 1 : 35 cas es) with those associated with other serotypes (group 2 : 56 cases) in children hospitalized in the two departments of pediatrics of the For t de France University hospital between 1990 and 1994. No significant difference was found in the age of patients. Severe clinical signs wer e present in 8 of 35 patients of group 1 versus 1 of 56 patients of gr oup 2 (p = 0.001), Blood cultures were found positive for 27 (77 %) of the 35 children in group 1 versus 10 (21 %) of 49 children in group 2 (p < 10(-1)). S. panama infections appear therefore to be a more seve re entity, a point also demonstrated by significantly different clinic al and biological parameters such as mean temperature at admission, fr equency and choice of antibiotic therapy and duration of stay in the h ospital. The epidemiology of S. panama infections is not well known. N one of the cases presented here was associated with a foodborne diseas e outbreak. S. panama is also rarely isolated during water and food qu ality controls (9 of 196 Salmonella strains from 1975 to 1994).