RESUMEN
The purpose of this study was to determine the changing pattern of Salmonella serotypes causing acute diarrhoea in humans in Gwangju area, Korea, during 2000-2009. A total of 596 Salmonella isolated from culture of 29,896 faecal samples of patients with acute diarrhoea were included in this study. Faecal samples were collected from local hospitals and clinics in Gwangju area during January 2000-December 2009. The mean annual frequency of isolates for the 10 years was 2.0% (range, 0.9-6.0). The isolates were serologically classified into 43 different serotypes. The 10 most common serotypes were Salmonella Enteritidis (47.9%), S. Typhimurium (20.4%), S. Braenderup (3.2%), S. Montevideo (2.9%), S. Paratyphi B (2.9%), S. London (2.3%), S. Bardo (1.7%), S. Virchow (1.7%), S. Infantis (1.5%) and S. Typhi (1.5%), accounting for 86% of all the isolates. Temporal variations were observed in the distribution of different Salmonella serotypes over the years, and only S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium were persistent throughout the study period. Although age specificity varied with serotypes, Salmonella was isolated most frequently from children below 5 years of age (179/596, 30.0%). A seasonal trend was apparent, and the highest rates were found in the summer months. This is the first report of the annual frequency of isolation of Salmonella serotypes, and seasonal and age-specific patterns of salmonellosis in humans in Gwangju area, Korea, over a decade-long period.