Sickle cell anemia and fecal salmonella carriage: A case-control study

Aprospective pilot study of the baseline prevalence of asymptomatic Salmonella carriage in stool culture of children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and age-matched controls without hemoglobinopathy. Salmonella grew in two out of 39 children with SCA (5.1%, 95% Cl of 0.6-17.3) and in two out of 86 controls (2.3%, 95% Cl of 0.3 to 8.1). Although the odd ratio of Salmonella carriage in SCA versus controls was 2.2, this was not statistically significant (p=0.4). From the data, we estimate that the sample size a future study will require to have an 80% power to answer that question is 20-fold the size of our study, therefore necessitating a very large multicenter study in areas where SCA is prevalent.