The prevalence and clinical features of multi-drug resistant Salmonella typhi infections in Baluchistan, Pakistan

Between January and July 1994, a prospective study of bacteraemia in 692 patients with fever without localizing signs was undertaken at the Quetta Military Hospital in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Salmonella spp. were isolated from 76 (11%) of the patients; 62 had S. typhi and 14 had S. paratyphi A. Significantly more isolations of S. typhi mere made in the hot dry months of May and June than in the earlier months. Although multi-drug resistance (to chloramphenicol ampicillin and cotrimoxazole) was detected in 43 (69%) of the S. typhi isolates, it was not found in any of the S. paratyphi A. Defervescence of patients with chloramphenicol-sensitive S. typhi took 7-10 days of chloramphenicol therapy. In contrast, most (91%) of the patients infected with multi-drug resistant S. typhi who were treated with fluoroquinolones achieved defervescence in 1-3 days; the remainder took 4-6 days.