WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent report shows that Shigella bacteria are becoming harder to treat because they are resisting most common antibiotics. Health officials from across the U.S., including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say this is a growing public health concern.
Since 2011, more cases of Shigella have been found that do not respond to usual medicines. These bacteria are now becoming extensively drug-resistant, meaning they can fight off nearly all antibiotics normally used to treat them, such as azithromycin, ceftriaxone, and ciprofloxacin. At the moment, there is no easy oral medicine to treat these infections.
Shigella causes an illness called shigellosis, which leads to symptoms like diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain. While many people recover within a week without treatment, serious cases still need antibiotics, especially for people with weak immune systems.
Researchers studied data from 2011 to 2023 using PulseNet. They found that there were no drug-resistant cases between 2011 and 2015, but by 2023, about 8.5% of cases were highly resistant. Most infections were caused by common types like Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri, and many people got infected locally rather than through travel.
Another concern is that these bacteria can share their resistance genes with other bacteria in the body, making the problem worse. Because Shigella spreads easily and is becoming harder to treat, experts say more work is needed to prevent infections, track cases, and develop new treatments.
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