**Hospitalizations and Deaths Due toSalmonellaInfections, FoodNet, 1996-1999**

Kennedy, Malinda
Villar, Rodrigo
Vugia, Duc J.
Rabatsky-Ehr, Therese
Farley, Monica M.
Pass, Margaret
Smith, Kirk
Smith, Perry
Cieslak, Paul R.
Imhoff, Beth
Griffin, Patricia M.

¹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta
²Georgia Emerging Infections Program, Atlanta
³Children's Clinics and the Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson
⁴California Department of Health Services, Berkeley
⁵Connecticut Emerging Infections Program, New Haven
⁶John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
⁷Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis
⁸New York State Department of Health, Albany
⁹Office for Disease Prevention & Epidemiology, Oregon Department of Human Services, Portland

Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Malinda Kennedy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MS D63, 1600 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30333 ([email protected]).

^aWorking group members are listed at the end of the text.

Financial support: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Infectious Diseases; US Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service; and US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Clinical Infectious Diseases 38:p S142-S148, April 15, 2004. | DOI: 10.1086/381580

Nontyphoidal Salmonella causes a higher proportion of food-related deaths annually than any other bacterial pathogen in the United States. We reviewed 4 years (1996-1999) of population-based active surveillance data on laboratory-confirmed Salmonella infections from the Emerging Infections Program's Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), to determine the rates of hospitalization and death associated with Salmonella infection. Overall, 22% of infected persons were hospitalized, with the highest rate (47%) among persons aged >60 years. Fifty-eight deaths occurred, for an estimated annual incidence of 0.08 deaths/100,000 population. These deaths accounted for 38% of all deaths reported through FoodNet from 1996 through 1999, and they occurred primarily among adults with serious underlying disease. Although Salmonella infection was seldom listed as a cause of death on hospital charts and death certificates, our chart review suggests that Salmonella infection contributed to these deaths.