J Clin Gastroenterol. 1992 Mar; 14(2): 157-9.

Recurrent Salmonella arizona infection after treatment for metastatic carcinoma.

Cortes E, Zuckerman MJ, Ho H.

Department of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso 79905.

Serious Salmonella arizona infection may be acquired through the ingestion of rattlesnake meat used as a folk medicine remedy. We report a patient with metastatic carcinoma and a remote history of rattlesnake meat ingestion who developed recurrent S. arizona bacteremia and reactivation of tuberculosis after receiving corticosteroid and radiation therapy. Physicians should be aware of the potential for rattlesnake-associated S. arizona infection to occur as either the presenting manifestation or as a complication in immunosuppressed patients who may take folk remedies, especially Hispanics who live along the United States-Mexico border.