129: Shigella Infections

Shigella species primarily infect the large intestine, causing clinical manifestations that range from watery or loose stools with minimal or no constitutional symptoms to more severe symptoms including high fever, abdominal cramps or tenderness, tenesmus, and mucoid stools with or without blood. Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1 often causes a more severe illness than other Shigella species, with a higher risk of complications, including septicemia, pseudomembranous colitis, toxic megacolon, intestinal perforation, hemolysis, and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Infection attributable to S dysenteriae serotype 1 has become rare in industrialized countries. Generalized seizures have been reported in young children with shigellosis attributable to...