Human infection with Salmonella dublin

Abstract

Twenty-seven cases of human infection with Salmonella dublin were identified over a 12-year period at the University of California at San Diego-affiliated hospitals. Important epidemiologic risk factors were the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products or treatment with nutritional therapy that included raw calf-liver extracts. Nearly all patients had underlying chronic diseases. Like Salmonella choleraesuis, S. dublin infections were associated with a high incidence of bacteremia (91%), metastatic sites of infection (30%), and mortality (26%) relative to other non-typhoidal Salmonellae. This pattern of disease expression may be related to a plasmid-encoded virulence factor common to both of these organisms.