Frequency of infected aneurysms among patients in Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, 1986-1990: the role of Salmonella.

Patients with infected aneurysms discharged from Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals during fiscal years 1986 to 1990 were identified using International Classification of Diseases codes to determine the proportion of patients infected with Salmonella. Twenty-three patients with infected aneurysms were identified. All patients were males; the median age was 63 years. A Gram-positive organism was recovered from 16 patients (70%), a Gram-negative organism from 6 patients (26%), and a fungus from 1 patient. Three patients, all with aneurysms of the abdominal aorta, were infected with Salmonella. Overall, the vessels most often involved included arteries of the extremities (10 patients) and the abdominal or thoracic aorta (9 patients). An increased incidence of nontyphoidal salmonellosis in the United States during the last few decades, along with an aging of the U.S. population, suggests that Salmonella can be expected to maintain a niche in the bacteriology of infected aneurysms.