Shigella Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Shigella Blog

News 25, the NBC affiliate in Central Illinois, is reporting a Shigella outbreak is occurring in Tazewell County.   The number of Shigella cases so far this year stands at 18, and that compares to only one during the year 2007.

News25 reports that:

Shigella is caused by a group of bacteria that health officials say can be avoided by hand-washing, sanitary food handling and diaper changing, eliminating shared water play areas, and staying home when diagnosed. Those diagnosed with the bacteria are urged not to return to school or daycare for 24 hours after being symptom free.

The bacteria is spread through the fecal-oral route and is more typical in young children and those who live in crowded conditions.

Signs and Symptoms to look for are similar to the flu. Loose watery stools with blood or mucus, fever, headache, convulsions, and abdominal pain can be associated with the bacteria.

There is not a reliable link to the story.  News 25 can be found here.

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All those Clinton and Obama campaign workers may be getting out of Ohio just in time.  Or maybe not.

Akron health officials are reporting that Ohio is suffering from the largest number of shigella cases since the 2001-2002 school year.    They say its been ongoing for several months with youngsters battling diarrhea caused by shigellosis, a highly contagious, bacterial infection.

The Akron Beacon Journal quoted Dr. Marguerite A. Erme, an epidemiologist for the Akron Health Department, as saying that about every five years, day-care centers and schools throughout the state report a rise in children sickened with shigellosis.

Erme said, like clockwork, the bacteria is back and many parents, teachers, and day-care providers can attest to that fact.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports:

''It is characteristic of this particular germ that we do see it cyclically,'' she said. '' . . . Since the fall, we started seeing an increasing number of cases of shigella throughout the whole county.''

Signs of shigellosis include diarrhea (often bloody), fever and stomach cramps starting one or two days after exposure to the bacterium, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Symptoms typically resolve in five to seven days, though young children and the elderly sometimes require hospitalization if they experience severe diarrhea.

A stool sample is required to confirm the presence of the shigella bacteria, Erme said. Severe cases can be treated with antibiotics, though that's not always necessary for milder cases.

 

The rest of the story can be found here.

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A million children are killed annually by diarrhea disease caused by Shigella and Escherichia coli (E coli).

The Info Project at the Bloomberg School of Health at John Hopkins University just published a fact sheet on "Developing New Vaccines Against Diarrheal Disease" by PATH.   It seems that PATH, an international nonprofit organization, last year was on the receiving end of a $50 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation  "to protect infants and children in low-resource countries by advancing development of safe, affordable, and effective new vaccines for two of the most important bacteria that cause diarrheal disease."

PATH’s Enteric Vaccine Initiative will collaborate with private- and public-sector partners to advance the development of safe and effective vaccines against the leading bacterial causes of diarrheal disease: Shigella and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

According to the fact sheet,  the PATH project is looking at several ways  to produce effective vaccines, including killing the whole cell, subunit or conjugate polysacchardie-based, live attenuated strains, and bacterial vectors.  "Preventive vaccines designed to be practical for low resource countries are a high priority," the PATH fact sheet says.

PATH says diarrhea is the second leading cause of death in children age five and younger. Each year, almost two million children throughout the world die from severe, dehydrating diarrhea, and millions more are hospitalized.   Half of those deaths are due to Shigella and common E. coli.

 The Info Project abstract on the PATH fact sheet can be found here.

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