Bacillary dysentery

Abstract

Bacillary dysentery is an intestinal infection caused by a shigella or Escherichia coli strain. Presenting symptoms usually are low grade fever and passage of frequent stools containing blood and mucus, often associated with urgency and tenesmus (clinical colitis). The disease generally is transmitted from person to person, while occasionally large outbreaks may result from ingestion of contaminated food or water. The disease is most prevalent during the warm months, except among institutionalized populations where there is no seasonal pattern. Most people harbor the organism following infection for 2 to 4 weeks, while in an occasional patient a long term carrier may develop. Antibiotics can often shorten the clinical disease and decrease post convalescent excretion of the infecting organism. Improvement of economic levels, nutrition and sanitation are of paramount importance to the control of bacillary dysentery. A degree of protective immunity can be demonstrated following recovery from infection. While killed parenteral vaccines have not offered protection, live attenuated strains of shigellae, when given orally, have been shown to protect animals and man against the homologous strain.