[Salmonella infections in Kinshasa: the species involved and sensitivity to antibiotics]

Abstract

292 Salmonella strains were isolated between 1986-1988 in the bacteriological unit of the Cliniques Universitaires de Kinshasa (Zaïre). One hundred of these strains were isolated from pediatric samples. The most frequent strains were S typhi, S enteritidis and S typhimurium. S typhi strains were sensitive to all antibiotics tested. The other salmonella serotypes had an increasing resistance to several antibiotics especially ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracyclin and kanamycin. A significant decline was observed with chloramphenicol and sulfamethoxazol-trimetoprim. Stool-isolated strains from children were found to be resistant to all antibiotics in common use in 5/6 cases. In systemic Salmonella infection, treatment with chloramphenicol or sulfamethoxazole-trimetoprim plus gentamycin is probably preferable to any other antibiotic recommended for Salmonella infection.