Risk Factors for the Development of Bacteremia in Previously Healthy Children with Non-typhoidal Salmonella Gastroenteritis

BACKGROUND: Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) causes approximately 1.2 million illnesses per year in the United States. There are very few pediatric studies which has investigated the risk factors for NTS bacteremia in healthy children with NTS gastroenteritis (NTS-AGE). METHODS: This was a retrospective study of children admitted to Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, with NTS-AGE from 2007–2016. Exclusion criteria included: patients aged ≤3 m or > 18 years, immunodeficiencies, hemoglobinopathies, extraintestinal manifestations or those in whom blood cultures were not obtained. Demographics, clinical and laboratory data were collected from electronic medical records. Patients with NTS bacteremia (NTS-B) were compared with patients who were non-bacteremic (NTS-NB). RESULTS: Of 350 patients reviewed, 83 patients met inclusion criteria: 53 with NTS-B and 30 NTS-NB. The median age of diagnosis was 1.58 years (range 3.5 months-18 years). Thirty-nine patients (47.0%) were female and 44 (53.0%) were male. Majority of patients were non-Hispanic White (n = 70; 84.3%). The most common serotype was Salmonella Group C (n = 41(49.4%). There was no difference in risk factors between NTS-B vs. NTS-NB in terms of age, duration of diarrhea prior to admission, travel or pet exposure, prior antibiotic exposure or white blood cell count at presentation. Duration of fever prior to admission was statistically significant with median duration for NTS-B being 6.11 days compared with NTS-NB at 1.97 days (P = 0.0000006). There was an increased trend for bacteremia in males and Salmonella Group C bacteremia (P = 0.07 and P = 0.08 respectively). CONCLUSION: To our knowledge this is first pediatric study in the United States to evaluate risk factors for NTS bacteremia in healthy children with NTS-AGE. Duration of fever prior to admission was associated with increased risk of NTS-B along with increased trend with males and infection with Group C Salmonella. These risk factors should prompt clinicians to monitor patients with NTS-AGE closely and help in deciding whether antimicrobials are warranted or not. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.