Muscle Infections Caused by Salmonella Species: Case Report and Review

We describe a patient with salmonella pyomyositis and review 30 other cases reported during the past 4 decades. Men outnumbered women by 2.9 to 1, and the median age of the patients was 51 years. Approximately one-half the cases were caused by Salmonella enteritidis. Infected vascular aneurysms were observed in seven patients. Prior salmonella infections and local trauma or lesions were common. Diverse underlying conditions, mainly diabetes and human immunodeficiency virus infection, were present in 81% of the patients, and the psoas muscle was involved in 55% of the cases. One-third of the patients died, and relapses were common after a median time of 5 weeks (range, 4.5–27 weeks) in those who survived. Most patients had anemia, and pathogens were recovered from blood samples from two-thirds of the patients. Salmonella should be considered as a causative agent of muscle infections in the appropriate clinical setting, particularly in patients with underlying diseases or preexisting vascular aneurysms.