VA Disability Rating for Nontyphoid Salmonella Infections (DC 6333)

Diagnostic Code 6333 · 38 CFR §4.88b

What Is It?

Nontyphoid salmonella infections cause gastroenteritis with severe diarrhea, fever, and cramping. Veterans may contract salmonella through contaminated food or water during deployments. The VA uses the General Rating Formula. Salmonella can trigger reactive arthritis, which is specifically noted as a residual condition rated under appropriate body system codes.

Rating Criteria

Evidence Needed

Stool or blood culture confirming Salmonella species. Deployment records. Treatment records. Documentation of post-infectious complications, particularly reactive arthritis.

C&P Exam Tips

Bring culture results. Describe deployment conditions. Report chronic digestive symptoms. Mention joint pain or swelling developing after the GI episode. Document hospitalizations.

How to File

File under DC 6333 for the acute infection. File reactive arthritis and post-infectious IBS as separate secondary claims. For veterans with a qualifying period of service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations, or in Afghanistan on or after September 19, 2001, 38 CFR 3.317(c) presumes service connection for nontyphoid Salmonella infection that became manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of separation from that service — on that route you do not have to prove an in-service event, only the qualifying service and the diagnosis. Outside that service or that window, the evidence this page describes is what carries the claim. Reactive arthritis has one more thing behind it on that route: 38 CFR 3.317(d) lists it as a long-term health effect potentially associated with nontyphoid Salmonella, so where a veteran presumed service connected under paragraph (c) is diagnosed with reactive arthritis within 3 months of the infection, VA will request a medical opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the infection caused it.

Common Mistakes

Common mistakes include not linking chronic digestive problems to the salmonella infection, failing to recognize reactive arthritis as a complication, not preserving culture results, and overlooking that a deployment GI illness may have been salmonella.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can food poisoning during deployment cause long-term problems?

Yes. Salmonella can trigger chronic conditions like post-infectious IBS and reactive arthritis that persist indefinitely.

What if I was not formally diagnosed during service?

Many deployment GI infections go undiagnosed. A medical opinion can still establish the likely connection if you developed chronic conditions afterward. On the presumptive route the question takes a different form: 38 CFR 3.317(c) asks whether the disease became manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year of separation from a qualifying period of service, not whether it was diagnosed while you were still serving.