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We document herein the prevalence and serotype distribution among Salmonella enterica strains isolated from children treated for diarrhea over two seven-year periods spanning 14 years. Four hundred and eight (1.38%) S. enterica cases were isolated among 29,601 diarrheal admissions. Among the Salmonella isolates, 63.7% were serogroup D and 29.9% were serogroup B. Overall, 21.7% of cases were under one year of age, with 2.1% being younger than three months. Bloody diarrhea was found in 18.8% of the cases. The resistance rates were 25.8%, 18.2%, 7.0%, 4.7%, and 0.3%, to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ceftriaxone, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. In conclusion, our study has revealed that the predominance of Salmonella serogroup D continues. The clinical features of our patients were mostly mild, with no deaths or severe complications. While resistance to antimicrobial agents changes constantly, it is important to keep these strains under surveillance in order to formulate policies for the rational use of antimicrobial agents.

Seroprevalence studies in various age groups contribute to a better understanding of hepatitis A infection and response to hepatitis A immunization. Hepatitis A seroprevalence in 12-month-old infants from Ankara was studied. Among 601 healthy infants, overall hepatitis A seropositivity was found to be 23.5%. There were no gender differences in seropositivity (22.6% for male and 24.5% for female infants). Although vaccination of infants would be an ideal prevention strategy, presence of maternal anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) antibody interferes with the immune response to hepatitis A vaccine in infants and young children. Therefore, further knowledge about decay of maternal antibody in infants is important in determining the optimal age for vaccination against hepatitis A. There is no recommendation for routine hepatitis A vaccination in Turkey. However, we need more seroprevalence studies in different age groups to decide the appropriate timing/age of vaccination.