A bacterial infection commonly known as shigella is becoming more resistant to medicine and harder to treat according to the CDC. Chief of LSU Health Shreveport Professor of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases, Dr. John Vanchiere says the infection can be easily transmitted from person to person.
“Transmission of shigella is what we call fecal-oral. It only requires a few organisms to make you sick,” said Vanchiere.
The CDC reported an estimated 450 thousand cases are treated in the US every year. The majority of cases are among international travelers, homeless people, individuals with weakened immune systems, and gay men.
“When you have a social close-knit population of any kind, then you expect germs to be more common among the group and that’s what we’re seeing from the report from CDC,” said Vanchiere.
People infected may experience severe diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain. Vanchiere says the best prevention is good hygiene.
“Hand washing is a real important part of what we do to keep ourselves safe from bad germs that are around us all the time,” said Vanchiere.
Most people infected will recover within a week to 10 days.
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