US health officials warn drug-resistant stomach bug Shigella on the rise

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning of a rise in a strain of a drug-resistant stomach bug that infects thousands of Americans each year.

Shigella bacteria causes fever, stomach pain and diarrhoea.  Since 2015, officials have noted an increase in cases linked to the drug-resistant strain.

The inability to treat infections with medication led health officials to call it a “serious public health threat”.

Without effective treatment, it could cause severe illness or death.

According to the CDC, shigella spreads “easily” through surface and direct contact with an infected person’s faeces.  It can lead to a form of dysentery named shigellosis, which is considered one of the leading cases of death linked to diarrhoea around the world.

The agency said “Given these potentially serious health concerns, CDC askes healthcare professionals to be vigilant about suspecting and reporting cases of XDR Shigella infection to their local or state health department and educating patients and communities at increased risk about prevention and transmission.”

Officials in the UK warned last year of an “unusually high number of cases” linked to the XDR strain.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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