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Disease: Shigellosis

Shigellosis is a disease caused by a gram negative bacteria, Shigella dysenteriae. The symptoms of this disease includes blooy diarrhea, fever, stomache cramps and possible seizures in children under the age of 2 for severe infections. Usually, shigellosis only last 5 to 7 days and doesn’t require hospitalization. The antibiotics commonly used for treatment are ampicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (also known as Bactrim or Septra), ceftriaxone (Rocephin), or, among adults, ciprofloxacin. The disease is distributed from an infected individual to another through a fecal-oral route meaning the bacteria travel from an infectious stool of a person to another person’s hand and Without proper hygienic behavior such as hand-washing, this individual can then transmit the bacteria through the mouth of another individual. Shigellosis can also be transmitted through sexual contact.

Cancun, Mexico: From January 1 to August 1, 1988, 17 cases of shigellosis were reported to the CDC. 15 of those reported cases came from individuals who visited Cancun, Mexico while 2 visited other areas in Mexico. Within the 15 patients, 13 were hospitalized while 2 had dveloped hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Six were resistant to chloramphenicol and tetracycline; two were resistant to ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. This bacterial outbreak was caused by type 1 S. dysenteriae which could be resistant against trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole and tetracycline.