Antibiotic-Resistant Shigella Alarms Experts- Cases Skyrocket!
United States: The county health department data shows that Multnomah County has had its largest number of Shigella infections during wintertime since 2012 for two consecutive years, where the January count reached multiple-year high levels.
Know about Shigella
The bacterial agent Shigella leads to a human illness that manifests as severe diarrhea alongside fever and fatigue because, historically, physicians referred to it as dysentery.
The transfer of infected fecal bacteria from one person to the mouth of another person defines the transmission of Shigella based on county health officials.
From November 2023 to January 2024, Multnomah County documented 72 Shigella infections, excluding those cases where patients contracted the disease overseas, kgw.com reported.
During this period, 105 cases of Shigella were reported, with a specific total of 40 confirmed infections happening in January.
Since 2012, the number of Shigella cases in Multnomah County has been growing, and the county recently recorded antibiotic-resistant strains among its local infections.
Reasons for its spread
The homeless population experienced most of the outbreaks because their limited access to sanitation services facilitates the transmission of diseases, as the majority of transmission-related infections happened in Old Town.
The culprit bacteria originate in food outbreaks, but transmission mostly occurs between people through direct sexual contact and by touching unclean objects, which leads to mouth contamination.
Mild to life-threatening illnesses exist, but individuals usually acquire fatal infections upon contracting Shigella dysenteriae only when it spreads from countries with deficient sanitation systems, kgw.com reported.
Within Oregon, two main strains of Shigella bacteria exist: Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei, which produce lower severity of illness among infected individuals.
More than 80 percent of cases in Multnomah County were contracted locally instead of any international connection involved, according to the city health reports.
