An outbreak of multidrug resistant Salmonella typhimurium in Delhi (India).

A total of 85 patients with multidrug resistant S. typhimurium were isolated between May and September 1991 at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India. Fifty eight (72.5%) patients out of 80 stool culture positives suffered from enteritis and 23 (39.6%) of them settled with oral rehydration therapy alone. All strains were sensitive to 4 aminoquinolones (oflaxcin) but five were resistant to third generation cephalosporin (Cefotaxime; MIC between 50-75 micrograms/ml) whereas 88-96 per cent isolated were resistant to most of the other antibiotics. The convalescent carrier rate was prolonged with the use of antibiotics. The phage type of S. typhimurium isolated from the index and other cases was 178 and multidrug resistance strains had seven plasmids (1.2 to 16 kb). Barrier nursing and sodium hypochlorite disinfection helped in limiting the outbreak.