Salmonella enteritis in Huesca.: 1996-1999

BACKGROUND. The enteritis due to Salmonella is still an important cause of infectious gastroenteritis, that is responsible of 85% of the foodborne outbreaks in Spain. It represents without any doubt a public health problem that involves several health care services and preventive services. SUBJECTS AND METHOD. Using two sources of information: the National Diseases Surveillance System and the Microbiology Laboratories of the Hospitals (MLH) we estimated the incidence of Salmonella infection by the capture-recapture method. Besides, a descriptive study of the disease is done and the more frequent serogroups in the province of Huesca during the period 1996-1999. RESULTS. The total number of cases was 959, which means a media annual rate of 116.6 x 10(-5). The estimated number of cases was 1,145 (media annual rate = 139.5 x 10(5)). The completeness is higher for the MLH (68%, CI 95%: 66-71). The group D is the more frequent (53.4%) and of this, specially the Salmonella enteriddis. 31% of the cases are under 5 years, and 38.2% are admitted to the hospital. The cases appear seasonally from May to September, with an important peak during the month of August. CONCLUSIONS. The improve in the notification and identification of cases by the reporting sources and by the Laboratory Services allowed us to better know the disease. Our results and the proportion of groups-serotypes are similar to the results of other studies.