Prevalence of Salmonella enterica serovar typhi in bile and stool of patients with biliary diseases and those requiring biliary drainage for other purposes.

Acute suppurative cholangitis is a serious complication of biliary obstructions due to infection. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi is an important biliary pathogen. Bile samples from 445 patients with biliary diseases as well as those requiring biliary drainage for other miscellaneous gastrointestinal diseases were investigated bacteriologically with special emphasis on Salmonella. Fecal samples or rectal swabs were also obtained from 402 of these patients. Bactericholia was detected in 68.8% patients and Salmonella in 5.8% of all bile samples. Other strains of salmonellae were also present in a fair number of the samples. Some of the patients had the same type of bacterial isolates from their stool samples as those from their bile samples. Colonization of the biliary system may not be clinically apparent, but is associated with an increased risk of infection.