HUMAN INFECTION IN TAYSIDE, SCOTLAND DUE TO SALMONELLA SEROTYPE LIVINGSTONE

Livingstone was the third most common salmonella serotype isolated fro m cases of human salmonellosis in the Tayside region of Scotland in 19 89-1991; latterly, it spread to Grampian region. The significant upsur ge of Livingstone in these two Scottish regions was not matched by sim ilar increases in its frequency of isolation from human cases of salmo nellosis in other regions of Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. Although Salmonella Livingstone is usually associated in the UK with incidents of infection among poultry flocks, our detailed investigations found no clear evidence that poultry, eggs or poultry-related products were responsible for this outbreak. Most cases occurred in the summer month s from July to September and many of the patients required hospital tr eatment. Other than one outbreak among geriatric patients in a long-st ay hospital in north Tayside, most of the cases were sporadic. The ext ent of the outbreak, covering 3 years, was recognised mainly because L ivingstone was previously an uncommon serotype in Tayside. There were few Livingstone isolations from non-human sources in Scotland in these same years. Possible sources of infection and predisposing factors am ong patients are discussed. Livingstone was not isolated in Scotland i n 1992.