Superbug has stricken two dozen people in at least 3 states.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A particularly unpleasant, drug-resistant strain of stomach bug has found its way to the United States and proliferated, causing more than 200 cases of illness since last May, health officials reported Thursday.
The malady, called shigellosis, is catalyzed by the shigella bacteria. The bug is incredibly contagious and outbreaks are not uncommon, but CBS News reported health officials are particularly concerned about the strain that is currently prevailing due to its resistance to the antibiotic most commonly prescribed to adults.
Since last spring, the superbug has stricken at least 243 people in the U.S., with sizable outbreaks recently occurring in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and California. Numerous cases have been traced back to individuals who had recently traveled to the Dominican Republic and India, according to the Associated Press.
“This is the first time we’ve documented this large an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant [shigella] linked to international travel,” said Dr. Anna Bowen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The run-of-the-mill strain of shigella, which is a common cause of diarrhea, is spread very easily through contaminated food or pools and infects half-a-million Americans annually per data provided by NPR. And while the standard version of shigella usually entails mild discomfort and a possible day home from the office, the drug-resistant strain has accumulated a 20 percent hospitalization rate in the U.S.
“This outbreak really highlights that multidrug-resistance in other countries is also a problem for the U.S.,” Bowen says. “Cases [in the U.S.] have continued to accrue over the month since we put together this report. So we’re monitoring it carefully,” she adds.
Globally, about 100 million people get infected with Shigella each year, and about 600,000 die from it. Drug-resistant shigellosis is a growing problem globally, especially in Asia, according to NPR.
Bowen says the best way to prevent Shigella is vigilant hygiene — wash your hands regularly while traveling and choose foods carefully.