[Salmonella typhimurium as the causal agent of pulmonary cavitations]. / Salmonella typhimurium como agente productor de cavidades pulmonares.

BACKGROUND: Relation between patients with immunosuppression (malignancy, renal transplant) and bacteremia by Salmonella non-typhi, specially by Salmonella typhimurium, is known. This relation has been published for patients who suffer from AIDS, and so Salmonella bacteremia could even begin the clinical disease. But even though the relation between the infection by Salmonella and AIDS is well known, and the pulmonary involvement in them has been told, this etiology as a producing agent of lung cavitation has not much documentation. METHODS: We examined three patients (two women and one man) suffering from fever of one week of duration, cough, expectoration and thoracic pain in two of them. The third patient had fever and cachexia without clinical symptoms. The man and the two women had a blood count with neutrophilia and leucocytosis in two cases and leucopenia in the other one. All of them suffered a very important depression of cell immunity (CD4 of 140, 70 and 4, respectively) and positive blood cultures for Salmonella typhimurium. RESULTS: Chest X-Ray showed, in all the cases, pulmonary cavities. CONCLUSIONS: Salmonella typhimurium must be included among the agents that can produce pulmonary cavities like Staphylococcus aureus, mycobacteria, fungus and other gram-negative bacilli.