Retrospective single-center study compares pediatric non-typhoidal Salmonella and E. coli bloodstream infections in Ningbo

A retrospective study of children hospitalized at the Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University found substantial differences between bloodstream infections caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella and Escherichia coli. The analysis included 47 patients with non-typhoidal Salmonella bloodstream infection and 99 with E. coli bloodstream infection who were treated at the hospital from 2012 to 2023. According to the study abstract, detection rates for both causes showed an overall upward trend, while the rate for E. coli bloodstream infection was significantly higher: 0.043% of blood cultures, compared with 0.020% for non-typhoidal Salmonella.

Children with non-typhoidal Salmonella bloodstream infection had a median age of 15 months, compared with 0.6 months among those with E. coli bloodstream infection, a difference reported as statistically significant (P = 0.008). Fever was more frequent in the non-typhoidal Salmonella group, occurring in 93.6% of patients versus 59.6% in the E. coli group (P < 0.001), as was diarrhea, reported in 66.0% and 4.0%, respectively (P < 0.001). C-reactive protein levels were lower in the non-typhoidal Salmonella group than in the E. coli group, at 16.45 mg/L and 21.65 mg/L, respectively (P < 0.001), although the supplied abstract does not identify the summary statistic used for these values.

Hospital course also differed between the groups. Stays longer than two weeks were reported for 14.9% of children with non-typhoidal Salmonella bloodstream infection, compared with 53.5% of those with E. coli bloodstream infection (P < 0.001). Intensive care unit admission was likewise less frequent in the non-typhoidal Salmonella group, at 4.3% versus 53.5% in the E. coli group (P < 0.001). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed lower resistance among non-typhoidal Salmonella isolates than among E. coli isolates for ampicillin-sulbactam, ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime and aztreonam. The reported P values were 0.021 for ampicillin-sulbactam, 0.041 for ceftazidime and less than 0.001 for each of the other four antibiotics.

The findings are bounded by the retrospective, single-center design and the small, unequal groups of hospitalized children, one of whom was 47 patients. The evidence supplied for this report is the abstract of an accepted, open-access BMC Pediatrics article, not a full assessment of the study, so unreported clinical outcomes, methods and potential confounding factors cannot be evaluated. Within the analyzed population, the reported observations distinguish the two infections in age distribution, fever, diarrhea, C-reactive protein concentration, hospital course and measured antimicrobial resistance; they do not establish that the organisms caused the differences in outcomes.

Subject of Research: Comparative clinical and antimicrobial susceptibility characteristics of pediatric non-typhoidal Salmonella and E. coli bloodstream infections

Article Title: Comparative clinical characteristics of non-typhoidal Salmonella and Escherichia coli bloodstream infections in children from Ningbo, China

Article References: Chen, J., Liu, W., Zhu, Z., Lu, W., Chen, Y., Ye, L., & Ke, Y. (2026). Comparative clinical characteristics of non-typhoidal Salmonella and Escherichia coli bloodstream infections in children from Ningbo, China. BMC Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-026-07646-0

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DOI: 10.1186/s12887-026-07646-0

Keywords: non-typhoidal Salmonella, Escherichia coli, pediatric bloodstream infections, Ningbo, retrospective study, antimicrobial resistance, C-reactive protein, hospital course, Comparative, clinical, characteristics, non-typhoidal