Nosocomial outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium infection in a nursery intensive care unit (NICU) and paediatric ward.

A nosocomial outbreak of multidrug resistant Salmonella typhimurium in a Nursery Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Paediatric ward is reported. Eight (16.6%) out of a total of 48 babies taken ill during this outbreak expired. Clinical manifestations included diarrhoea and fever. The organism was isolated from stool samples/rectal swabs of all the 48 cases and blood of 6 cases. An investigation was undertaken to trace the source of infection. The organism was isolated in pure cultures from three suction machines of NICU. The epidemic was immediately controlled with identification of the source but the question of how the suction machines were infected by this organism remained unsolved.