Shigella

Shigella is a genus of bacteria that causes an infection called shigellosis.
It is the second leading cause of bacterial diarrhea(first being rotavirus) worldwide and the third leading cause of death in children less than 5 years old.

Shigella is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water, or through person-to-person contact.
Shigellosis is primarily a disease of poor and crowded communities that do not have adequate sanitation or safe water.

Handwashing is said to reduce shigella transmission by 70%.
Recommended public health control measures are exclusion of ill people with shigellosis from work, food preparation, and childcare.

The incubation period of shigellosis is typically 1–4 days, but up to 8 days with Shigella dysenteriae type 1.
Asymptomatic infection can occur, particularly in previously infected individuals.
Symptoms include diarrhoea, fever, stomach cramps which can last for seven days.
The severity of the disease varies by the infecting species:
- Shigella dysenteriae infections usually cause dysentery, which may also occur in infection with Shigella flexneri .
- Shigella boydii and Shigella sonnei often have self-limited watery diarrhea.

The cornerstone of shigella treatment is the maintenance of hydration and electrolyte balance.
Currently, there are no vaccines available for shigellosis
Due to the increasing rate of multidrug resistance, in particular resistance to fluoroquinolone in Asian and African regions, this has been classified as a medium priority for research and development of new and effective antibiotic treatments by the WHO Priority Pathogens List of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The Kerala health department identified Shigella bacteria as the cause for the food poisoning incident

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