The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an uptick in multidrug-resistant shigellosis in the past year. Image courtesy of the CDC
ATLANTA, April 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's seen an uptick in cases of a drug-resistant stomach illness known as shigellosis in the last year.
Between May 2014 and February 2015, 243 people tested positive for multi-drug resistant shigella sonnei bacteria in 32 states and Puerto Rico, a study released by the agency Thursday said. Each of those cases was resistant to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, which is the traditional treatment for the infection.
The antibiotic is often prescribed to Americans traveling abroad in case they develop diarrhea.
Shigellosis had proven to be resistant to other antibiotics, including ampicillin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.
"These outbreaks show a troubling trend in shigella infections in the United States," CDC Director Tom Frieden said. "Drug-resistant infections are harder to treat and because shigella spreads so easily between people, the potential for more – and larger – outbreaks is a real concern. We're moving quickly to implement a national strategy to curb antibiotic resistance because we can't take for granted that we'll always have the drugs we need to fight common infections."
Clusters of the disease were found in Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania, 90 percent of which were resistant to ciprofloxacin.
About half of the cases detected by the CDC's PulseNet labs were found in people who had traveled to the Dominican Republic and India. San Francisco also reported a large uptick in cases among the homeless or people living in single-room occupancy hotels.
In the United States there are an estimated 500,000 cases of shigellosis each year. Symptoms include watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and malaise.
"The increase in drug-resistant Shigella makes it even more critical to prevent shigellosis from spreading," said Anna Bowen, a medical officer in CDC's Waterborne Diseases Prevention Branch and lead author of the study. "Washing your hands with soap and water is important for everyone. Also, international travelers can protect themselves by choosing hot foods and drinking only from sealed containers."
