During a two-year period, 26 Central African patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex were seen in two Belgian hospitals and five of these patients presented with non-typhoid Salmonella bacteremia. Three additional patients were observed in a Rwandese hospital. These eight African patients were compared with 16 non-AIDS patients with non-typhoid Salmonella bacteremias. The patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex did not have gastroenteritis, but they did have a high recurrence rate and high prevalence of Salmonella typhimurium. Long-term antibiotic prophylaxis seems warranted for such patients despite the high frequency of side effects from antibiotics.
PIP: Between January 1982 and December 1983, health practitioners at 2 Belgian hospitals examined 26 Africans with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. 5 of these patients also had non-typhoid Salmonella bacteremia. These 5 patients originated from Zaire. 3 additional patients with both acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex (ARC) and Salmonella bacteremia were seen at a hospital in Rwanda. Researchers compared these 8 African patients with 16 non-African, non-HIV patients with Salmonella bacteremias. 4 of these 16 patients experienced associated gastroenteritis, but none of the AIDS or ARC patients had gastroenteritis which is often the case with HIV infections. The AIDS or ARC patients did, however, have a high recurrence rate and high prevalence of Salmonella typhimurium. Therefore, a longterm antibiotic prophylaxis seems appropriate for such patients even though there is a high frequency of side effects from antibiotics. Further studies are warranted to evaluate efficacy and toleration of longterm prophylaxis, such as with the antibiotics called quinolines, in HIV infected patients.