Cervical mass caused by Salmonella Typhimurium as a clinical presentation of AIDS in a HIV-positive patient

Infections due to non-typhi salmonellae (NTS) generally cause a mild and self-limited gastrointestinal disease. However, there have been reports of atypical and severe presentations in immunocompromised patients. We report the case of a male patient who consulted with a cervical mass. He was found to be HIV-positive and Salmonella Typhimurium was isolated in one blood culture and cervical mass tissue culture. We discuss the relevance of infections by NTS in immunodeficient patients because they present with more severe illness than normal population. We emphasize the importance of NTS bacteremia as a marker of underlying immunodeficiency. We present some localized infection sites reported in the literature and their relation with particular diseases. We discuss the future relevance that an early start of antiretroviral therapy (ART) may have in HIV patients with NTS acute bacteremia or focal infections. Because infections by NTS can be severe and highly lethal they must be considered in the differential diagnosis of causative organisms of localized infections and bacteremia in HIV patients.