The aim of this systematic review is to distinguish the clinical features of immunocompetent children with non-typhoid Salmonella spondylodiscitis and summarize the diagnosis, diagnostic tools, and treatment methods to guide clinicians. The review was conducted according to the preferred PRISMA guidelines. We conducted a literature search in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. Article screening, data extraction, and study evaluation were performed by two independent reviewers. A total of 20 articles, published between 1977 and 2020, were selected, which included 21 patients with average age of 12.76 years (range, 2-18) without comorbidities; in total, 19% of the patients had positive blood cultures for non-typhoid Salmonella, and 80.9% underwent either CT-guided or open biopsy, which were positive for NTS. All infections were monomicrobial, and 11 different serotypes of non-typhoid Salmonella were identified. Analyzing the reviewed cases, 52.4% of the patients presented with fever, 90.5% had localized pain, and only 19% had gastroenteritis. The most common level of discitis was the lumbar region, especially the L4/L5 level. Primarily, third-generation cephalosporin was administered, and antibiotic treatment was given for an average of 9.6 weeks. Non-typhoid Salmonella spondylodiscitis is a rare clinical entity in healthy and immunocompetent children. The identification of the responsible organism is essential to guide antibiotic therapy and define the treatment duration. A significant limiting factor in this systematic review was the lack of published research articles and case series due to the rarity of the disease.
Keywords: children; discitis; non-typhoid Salmonella; spondylodiscitis.