Although Salmonella suipestifer, long known as the "hog cholera bacillus," is most commonly found in diseased swine, human infections with this micro-organism have been occasionally reported. In the United States these have usually occurred as outbreaks of food poisoning, with the acute and transient gastro-enteritis which is characteristically caused by certain other members of the paratyphoid group of bacteria. Two of these outbreaks have been traced to tapioca pudding1; one was milk-borne.2
Exceptions to these cases of food poisoning have been a fatal infection diagnosed as lobar pneumonia, in which Salmonella suipestifer was isolated from the blood3; another lung infection in which the organism was found in the sputum, blood and pleural fluid,4 and a fatal case simulating typhoid5 in which Salmonella suipestifer was found in the blood.
In other countries definitely identified strains of Salmonella suipestifer have been associated with food poisonings,6 and